Eden Real Estates Private Limited & Anr. Vs Assistant Commissioner of State Tax (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court considered a writ petition challenging a show cause notice dated 24 July 2024 issued under Section 74 of the CGST/WBGST Act, 2017 for the period July 2017 to March 2018. The petitioners contended that they had disclosed all particulars in their TRAN-1 filed under Section 140 and that the show cause notice invoked the extended limitation period solely on the allegation that certain documents were not produced during verification. It was argued that non-production of documents could not, by itself, constitute wilful misstatement necessary to invoke the extended period. The State opposed the petition on the ground that the matter was at the show cause stage and should not be interfered with, asserting that ingredients for invoking extended limitation were present. On examining the notice, the Court found that the only basis for invoking the extended period was the alleged non-production of documents, though the notice also recorded an allegation of wilful misstatement. Since a jurisdictional issue regarding invocation of the extended period was raised, the Court directed exchange of affidavits. The petitioners were permitted to respond to the show cause notice without prejudice, and the proper officer was allowed to proceed with adjudication after granting a hearing, but restrained from communicating or uploading the final order without leave of the Court. Time was granted to file the reply, and further liberty to apply was reserved by the Court.
