The Division Bench of the Patna High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Partha Sarthy has recently set aside a GST demand order and the Show Cause Notice issued in violation of Section 74(A) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017.
M/s. Motiprabha Infrated Pvt. Ltd. approached the High Court of Patna under the present writ petition for quashing and setting aside the assessment order passed against the petitioners as the same and the consequent demand order was passed in violation of time period prescribed in Section 74(A) of the CGST Act.
The petitioners were directed to pay a tax total of almost Two and Half Crore Rupees.
The ex parte assessment order had been passed for the aforesaid period in violation of the time period of 30 days after issuance of show-cause notice.
The Bench of Chief Justice observed that, “The notice dated 15.02.2021 (Annexure-P/4 series) directed the petitioner to file reply on 21st of February, 2021 which was within the period of 30 days. It is the mandate of law that 30 days’ period has to be afforded to the parties, which was not done in the instant case.”
It was further observed that, “Undisputedly, minimum statutory period of 30 days mandated under the provisions of Section 74(A) of CGST/BGST Act, 2017 was not afforded to the petitioner for making payment due and prior to the expiry of 30 days, the assessing officer proceeded to pass the order, ex parte in nature.”
Observing as above after hearing Advocate Madan Kumar for the petitioner and ASG K N Singh and Government Pleader Vivek Prasad for the respondent-revenue, the Patna High Court set aside the impugned notice and order. The Assessing Officer was also directed to issue a fresh notice, to which the petitioner showed willingness to cooperate.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to TaxscanAdFree. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates.
