Allied Batteries Vs State of U.P. (Allahabad High Court)
Summary: The Allahabad High Court dismissed the writ petition filed by Allied Batteries challenging the assessment order dated 18.02.2025 passed by the Deputy Commissioner, State Tax, Sector-1, Barabanki under Section 73 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The dispute related to the financial year corresponding to the tax period from April 2020 to March 2021. According to the petitioner’s submission, a show cause notice under Section 73 had required the reply to be filed by 09.09.2022, while the date of personal hearing was also fixed for 09.09.2022. The petitioner neither filed a reply nor appeared before the competent authority, following which the proceedings culminated in the impugned assessment order dated 18.02.2025.
The petitioner contended that the show cause notice was defective because the date prescribed for filing the reply and the date fixed for personal hearing were the same. Reliance was placed on the Division Bench judgment of the Allahabad High Court in M/s Shubham Steel Traders v. State of U.P. and Another, Writ Tax No.199 of 2024.
The Court, however, found that the petitioner had offered no cogent explanation for failing to participate in the assessment proceedings despite admittedly receiving the show cause notice. The Court held that, once the petitioner failed to participate in the proceedings, he could not claim the benefit of the judgment in M/s Shubham Steel Traders v. State of U.P. and Another. The Court further observed that it did not find any statutory bar to fixing the same date for filing the reply and for personal hearing.
