City Enterprises Vs Deputy State Tax Officer-1 (Madras High Court)
The Madras High Court examined a writ petition challenging an order dated 20.08.2024 passed under Section 73 of the CGST Act for the tax period April 2019 to March 2020. The order confirmed a demand arising from a show cause notice issued on 22.05.2024, including tax, interest, and penalty aggregating to Rs. 9,97,196. The petitioner primarily challenged the order on the ground that it was barred by limitation under Sections 73(2), 73(9), and 73(10) of the CGST Act.
The petitioner contended that the extension of limitation granted througheNotification No. 09/2023 – Central Tax dated 31.03.2023. and Notification No. 56/2023-CT dated 28.12.2023, issued under Section 168A of the Act, applied only to recovery of tax and not to determination of tax. It was argued that for the financial year 2019–20, the time limits for issuing notices and passing orders had expired, and the impugned order was therefore invalid.
The Court rejected this contention, observing that the notifications explicitly extended the time limit for issuance of orders under Section 73(9) for the relevant financial years, including up to 31.08.2024 for FY 2019–20. Since the impugned order was passed on 20.08.2024, it was within the extended limitation period. The Court held that the argument distinguishing recovery from determination of tax was not sustainable in light of the language of the notifications. It also noted that the issue had been decided against the assessee in an earlier judgment of the Court, which was affirmed in appeal.
