The Delhi High Court directed the Goods and Services Tax authority to re adjudicate the Show Cause Notice ( SCN ) to the petitioner, in a scenario where the SCN is issued before the GST portal redesign.
The Petitioner, Sanjay Gupta, Proprietor of M/s Jsr Gems and Jewellery has filed a petition, impugning an order dated 15.04.2024 passed under section 73 of the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (DGST,2017) pursuant to the SCN dated 08.12.2023.
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The impugned SCN was uploaded on the portal in the category of ‘View Additional Notices & Orders’, which the petitioner claims as not easily accessible. It was contended that the SCN were required to be placed under the category of ‘View Notices & Orders’ but the same was not done.
The same issue was covered earlier in the case of M/s ACE Cardiopathy Solutions Private v. Union of India & Ors.: Neutral Citation No.2024:DHC:4108-DB. In the case the decision rejected the contention that uploading of notices under the heading ‘Additional Notices’ would be sufficient service in terms of Section 169 of the Central Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017.
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The court noted that “We are unable to accept the contention of the learned counsel, reference may be had to the judgment of the High Court of Madras in W.P. No. 26457/2023, titled M/s East Coast Constructions and Industries Ltd. v. Assistant Commissioner (ST) dated 11-9-2023, wherein the High Court of Madras has noticed that communications are placed under the heading of “View Notices and Orders” and “View Additional Notices and Orders”. The Madras High Court had directed the respondents to address the issue arising out of posting of information under two separate headings. As per the petitioner, the Menu “View Additional Notices and Orders” were under the heading of “User Services” and not under the heading “View Notices and Orders”.
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The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Authorities have addressed the issue and redesigned the portal to ensure that the ‘View Notices’ tab and ‘View Additional Notices’ tab are placed adjacent to one another and under one heading.
The Respondent, Sales Tax Officer Class II Delhi represented by Mr.Udit Malik, ASC (Civil) and Mr.Vishal Chanda, Advocates admitted that the impugned order was issued before the portal redesign.
By considering all these the present petition is allowed and the impugned order is set aside.
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The Division Bench consisting of Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Sachin Datta remanded to the concerned authority to adjudicate the impugned SCN afresh. And also the petitioner is given the liberty to file a response to the impugned SCN within a period of two weeks from date. The concerned authority can adjudicate the impugned SCN after considering the petitioner’s response and after providing the petitioner an opportunity to be heard.
The present petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms and the pending applications also stands disposed of.
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