Speedways Logistics Pvt. Ltd. Vs Union of India (Bombay High Court)
The Bombay High Court heard a petition challenging a show cause notice dated 24 September 2025 issued under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act) by the Joint Commissioner, CGST Audit Commissionerate, Nagpur. The notice covered the period from April 2019 to March 2023 and alleged suppression of taxable value, short payment of tax, and wrongful availment of input tax credit.
The petitioner contended that clubbing multiple financial years in a single show cause notice under Section 74 was impermissible. Reliance was placed on a Division Bench judgment of the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court in Milroc Good Earth Developers, which held that the statutory scheme does not permit consolidation of different financial years or tax periods in a composite notice. The Court in that case analyzed the scheme of assessment and noted that tax liability corresponds to each tax period, generally linked to a financial year through annual returns. It emphasized that Sections 73(10) and 74(10) prescribe a five-year limitation from the due date of the annual return for the relevant financial year, and such limitation runs separately for each year. Accordingly, consolidation of multiple years was found to be inconsistent with the statutory structure.
