A.V. Pharma Thru. Its Prop. Smt. Madhu Vohra Vs State of U.P (Allahabad High Court)
In the case of A.V. Pharma Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court addressed the issue of the validity of GST orders passed beyond the prescribed time limits. The petitioner, A.V. Pharma, challenged the orders issued by the Deputy Commissioner of State Tax, Lucknow, arguing that they were barred by the statutory time limit under Section 73 of the U.P. GST Act, 2017. The petitioner contended that the time limit for issuing such orders, calculated from the due date for filing annual returns, had expired. According to Section 73(10) of the Act, the orders should have been passed within three years from the due date for filing the annual return, which for the financial year 2017-18 was extended to 5th February 2023. However, the orders in question were dated 5th October 2024 and 2nd December 2023, which the petitioner argued exceeded the permissible time frame.
The State defended the orders by citing a notification dated 24th April 2023, which extended the time limit for issuing GST orders for the financial year 2017-18 until 31st December 2023. However, the court highlighted a critical point: the notification applied retrospectively only from 31st March 2023, not before. As a result, the extended time limit did not apply to the orders issued before that date, which included the impugned orders. The court concluded that the orders passed beyond the stipulated time limit were without jurisdiction, and therefore, the writ petition was allowed. The Allahabad High Court quashed the impugned GST orders, and further directed that the frozen bank accounts of the petitioner be de-freezed.
