Satendra Kumar Vs State of U.P. And 2 Others (Allahabad High Court)
Allahabad High Court has set aside a show-cause notice and a subsequent ex parte assessment order issued under Section 74 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, against a deceased proprietor of a firm. The court ruled that initiating proceedings directly against a person who is no longer alive is legally untenable, reinforcing the principle that tax authorities must proceed against the legal representatives in such circumstances.
The case, filed by Satendra Kumar against the State of U.P. and others, challenged a show-cause notice dated September 12, 2022, and an ex parte order dated March 10, 2023, issued by the Deputy Commissioner, State Tax. These proceedings related to tax periods from May 2018 to September 2018.
According to the petitioner, his father, Mr. Surendra Kumar, was the proprietor of S.K. Industry. Mr. Surendra Kumar passed away on February 17, 2021. Following his death, his wife applied for the cancellation of the firm’s GST registration, which was subsequently cancelled on July 29, 2022.
Despite being notified of the death and the cancellation of registration, the tax authorities issued the contested show-cause notice and the subsequent ex parte order against the deceased proprietor. The petitioner highlighted that both the notice and the order were merely uploaded on the GST portal and were therefore not known to the legal heirs of the deceased businessman. The petitioner’s mother, the wife of the deceased, also passed away subsequently, leaving the petitioner, the son, to challenge the impugned proceedings.
