Ganesh Valmik Bawane Vs Joint Director (Bombay High Court)
Summary: The Bombay High Court partly allowed the petition challenging a show cause notice dated 25/06/2025, issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act for financial years 2019-20 to 2021-22. The notice alleged suppression of taxable value and short payment of central GST. The petitioner argued that different financial years could not be clubbed in one notice, relying on Milroc Good Earth Developers and Rite Water Solutions (India) Ltd., in which the Bombay High Court had held that the statutory scheme did not permit consolidation of tax periods in a notice under Section 74.
The respondents relied on the Delhi High Court’s decision in Mathur Polymers, which permitted a consolidated notice in a case alleging fraudulent input tax credit across several years. They submitted that the Supreme Court had declined to interfere with that decision. The Bombay High Court held that dismissal of the special leave petition in limine did not bring the doctrine of merger into play. It considered its own subsequent decisions binding on authorities within its jurisdiction. In explaining those decisions, the Court emphasised the separate annual returns, limitation periods and opportunity to respond applicable to each financial year.
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