Tvl. R.M.K. Enterprises Vs State Tax Officer (Madras High Court)
The Madras High Court considered a writ petition challenging an assessment order dated 26.12.2023 for the tax period 2017-18. The assessment order was preceded by an intimation in Form GST DRC-01A dated 30.08.2023, to which the petitioner submitted a reply on 13.09.2023. The petitioner contended that the subsequent Show Cause Notice in Form GST DRC-01 dated 23.09.2023 was issued without jurisdiction because there were no facts available to confirm the proposed demand. The petitioner also stated that it failed to respond to the DRC-01 notice since it was uploaded on the GST portal and claimed that it became aware of the assessment order only after recovery proceedings were initiated through Form GST DRC-13 dated 17.09.2025 seeking attachment of its bank account.
The respondents opposed the writ petition, arguing that it was liable to be dismissed on the ground of delay and laches. They further submitted that the petitioner’s purported reply dated 13.09.2023 to the DRC-01A intimation did not bear any acknowledgement in Form DRC-06.
The Court observed that the DRC-01A intimation related to a mismatch between the input tax credit (ITC) claimed in Form GSTR-3B and the ITC reflected in Form GSTR-2A. According to the notice, the petitioner had availed total ITC of ₹1,33,06,140 in GSTR-3B, whereas the auto-populated credit available in GSTR-2A was only ₹1,11,17,362, resulting in excess ITC being claimed. The petitioner was therefore called upon to reverse the excess ITC.
