Tasneef Ahmad Mirza Vs Union of India and 4 others (Allahabad High Court)
Reminder notice and order under Section 73 were uploaded under ‘Additional Notices and Orders’ tab instead of ‘Due Notices and Orders’ tab on GST portal, preventing timely response
Summary: In the case of Tasneef Ahmad Mirza Vs Union of India & Others (Allahabad High Court), the petitioner challenged an order passed by the Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Kanpur, under Section 73 of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Act, 2017, which involved a demand raised against him. The petitioner claimed that after filing a response to a notice issued in December 2023, he did not receive any further communication, including a personal hearing notice. Consequently, the petitioner believed that the proceedings had been dropped. However, around four months later, the reminder notice and order were uploaded under the “Additional Notices and Orders” tab on the GST portal, which the petitioner failed to notice, preventing him from responding within the prescribed period of limitation.
The petitioner argued that the uploading of the reminder notice under the wrong tab, instead of the “Due Notices and Orders” tab, had denied him the opportunity to respond within the statutory time frame. This issue had been previously addressed in the case of Ola Fleet Technologies Ltd. v. State of U.P., where the Allahabad High Court ruled in favor of the petitioner, remanding the matter due to similar issues with notice uploads. In that case, the court recognized that the failure to upload notices under the correct tab on the GST portal could mislead taxpayers and prevent timely responses. The department did not dispute the petitioner’s claims regarding the wrong tab upload.
