GST Dept’s Review Petition Dismissed: J&K HC confirms Quashment of Demand against Deceased Person [Read Order]
The Court confirmed that raising tax demands against a deceased person amounts to a violation of natural justice and cannot be sustained
GST Dep
GST Dep
The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh at Jammu has dismissed a review petition filed by the Deputy Commissioner, State Taxes (Recovery) and another officer challenging its earlier decision quashing a GST demand raised against a deceased taxpayer.
The issue arose from a show-cause notice issued on 31 July 2024, followed by a reminder and recovery notice, all of which had been quashed by the Court in March 2025 on the ground that proceedings were initiated against a dead person without affording an opportunity of hearing.
In the review plea, the State authorities argued that by the time of the earlier judgment, they had already confirmed a demand of ₹33.19 lakh under Section 74 of the J&K GST/CGST Act for the financial year 2017-18, and that the same had not been specifically quashed.
The Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar rejected this contention. The court held that once the show-cause notice itself was quashed as illegal, all consequential proceedings including the final demand order automatically stood vitiated.
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The Court confirmed that raising tax demands against a deceased person amounts to a violation of natural justice and cannot be sustained. It was clarified that although the earlier order did not specifically quash the final demand dated 2 March 2023, such demand was inseparably linked to the invalid notice and thus deemed quashed.
However, liberty was reserved for the Department to initiate fresh proceedings in accordance with law, after ensuring proper notice and hearing.
The High Court stated in rejecting the review petition that procedural errors, including sending notices to a deceased individual, weaken the veracity of the whole claim and that natural justice principles serve as the cornerstone of tax adjudication.
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