Titan Company Ltd. Vs Joint Commissioner of GST & Central Excise (Madras High Court)
The Madras High Court considered a writ petition seeking a Writ of Mandamus directing the first respondent to consider and decide the petitioner’s representation dated 25.10.2023 before proceeding with the adjudication of a show cause notice dated 28.09.2023. The principal grievance of the petitioner was that the respondent had issued a single show cause notice covering five Assessment Years, namely 2017-18 to 2021-22, by clubbing multiple financial years together. The petitioner contended that such bunching of show cause notices is not permissible under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
The petitioner submitted that Section 73 of the CGST Act provides for determination of tax not paid, short paid, erroneously refunded, or input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised in cases other than fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression of facts. Particular reliance was placed on Section 73(10), which prescribes that an order determining tax must be passed within three years from the due date for furnishing the annual return for the relevant financial year. It was argued that the determination of tax under Section 73 is financial year-specific, and consequently the limitation period must also be computed separately for each financial year.
