DIN Mandatory while Issuing GST SCN or Order: Andhra Pradesh HC Quashes Registration Cancellation Notice [Read Order]
The notices or orders without DIN will not survive. The court relied on the supreme court judgments.
Name
Document - identification -Number - Taxscan
Name
Document - identification -Number - Taxscan
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has held that the Document Identification Number ( DIN ) is mandatory while issuing show cause notice ( SCN ) or order under the Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) Act, 2017, otherwise it will be considered as not valid.
The Division Bench of Justice R. Raghunandan Rao and Justice T.C.D. Sekhar accordingly quashed the cancellation notice and the subsequent order passed against the petitioner.
The petitioner, Arhaan Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Solutions Pvt. Ltd, a registered company engaged in trade, challenged the show cause notice dated 08.05.2025 issued by the Superintendent of Central Tax for cancellation of registration under Section 29 of the GST Act, as well as the cancellation order dated 17.07.2025.
How to Audit Public Charitable Trusts under the Income Tax Act Click Here
It was contended that the notice and order were illegal and vitiated since they did not contain the mandatory DIN, nor did they bear valid digital signatures, violating the CBIC’s own circulars and settled judicial precedents
Smt. Santhi Chandra, the respondents’ counsel admitted that the impugned show cause notice did not bear a DIN.
The Court examined the issue from the Supreme Court’s decision in Pradeep Goyal v. Union of India 2022, which held that any order issued without a DIN is invalid.
Further, the bench relied on Division Bench rulings of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Cluster Enterprises v. Deputy Assistant Commissioner, 2024 and Sai Manikanta Electrical Contractors v. Deputy Commissioner, Special Circle, Visakhapatnam, 2024, both of which struck down proceedings for lack of DIN.
Thus, the court accordingly observed that, “In view of the aforesaid judgments and the circular issued by the C.B.I.C., the non-mention of a DIN number in this show-cause notice, which was uploaded in the portal, requires this show-cause notice to be set aside.”
Want a deeper insight into the Income Tax Bill, 2025? Click here
Accordingly, it set aside the show cause notice dated 08.05.2025 as well as the consequential cancellation order dated 17.07.2025, while granting liberty to the department to issue a fresh notice with a valid DIN, after giving the petitioner an opportunity of hearing.
It directed that the period between the issuance of the defective SCN and the receipt of this judgment shall be excluded for the purpose of limitation.
The petitioner also expressed concern about harassment by repeated service of cancellation orders without relevant supporting documents. The Court also directed the tax authorities to provide all relevant papers to the petitioner to enable a fair response in any future proceedings.Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscanpremium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates
