Simla Gomti Pan Products Pvt. Ltd. Vs Commissioner of State Tax U.P. & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in M/s Simla Gomti Pan Products Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of State Tax, U.P. & Ors. [SLP (C) No. 5266 of 2026, order dated March 20, 2026] granted interim protection to the Petitioner by directing deposit of Rs. 3.50 crore within two weeks, and ordered that no coercive steps shall be taken pursuant to the two assessment orders during the meantime. The Court recorded the Petitioner’s case that the relied-upon documents had been uploaded on a different portal, due to which the Petitioner could not access them and could not file an effective reply, and noted the submission that the assessment orders were therefore ex parte in nature. The Court also noted that the total liability under the assessment orders, inclusive of interest and penalty, was around Rs. 159 crore, while the principal liability was stated to be around Rs. 67 crore, for which the statutory pre-deposit would work out to about Rs. 6.70 crore.
This matter arose after the Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad (Lucknow Bench) in M/s Simla Gomti Pan Products Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of State Tax U.P. & Ors. [Writ Tax No. 533 of 2025 dated November 03, 2025] dismissed the Petitioner’s writ petition primarily on the ground of availability of a statutory alternate remedy under Section 107 of the U.P. Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter “U.P. GST Act / the Act”), and further held that the Petitioner was estopped from raising the relief of pre-deposit exemption by virtue of the principle of constructive res judicata and the Henderson Principle, having failed to seek such relief in successive writ petitions.
