The Delhi High Court quashed the demand of 12 lakhs as the show cause notice ( SCN ) was uploaded in the GST portal under the category of “Additional Notices” without any proper communication to the petitioner.
The Petitioner impugned the order whereby the impugned Show Cause Notice proposing a demand of Rs.12,92,704.00 against the petitioner has been disposed of and a demand including penalty had been created against the Petitioner. The order has been passed under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act).
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the Petitioner was unaware of the initiation of any such proceedings and accordingly could not respond to the same. He submits that the said Show Cause Notice was uploaded on the portal in the category of “Additional Notices” and was not communicated to the petitioner through any other mode of communication. He further submits that since the notice was merely uploaded on the web portal under the tab of “Additional Notices and Orders”, petitioner was unaware of any such proceedings initiated against it.
Reference has been made to the judgment of the High Court of Madras titled M/s East Coast Constructions and Industries Ltd. vs. Assistant Commissioner (ST), 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”.
A Division Bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Ravinder Dudeja observed that “Clearly, petitioner has made out a case that Petitioner has missed out the receipt of the notice as it was merely uploaded on the portal under the category of “Additional Notices” tab and accordingly could not respond to the Show Cause Notice. In view of the above, impugned order 04.12.2023 is set aside. Since the only reason for passing the impugned order is that Petitioner had not filed any reply/explanation, Petitioner needs to be granted one opportunity to respond to the Show Cause Notice and thereafter, the Show Cause Notice to be re-adjudicated.”
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