Neelgiri Machinery Vs Commissioner Delhi Goods And Service Tax And Others (Delhi High Court)
Delhi High Court has set aside demand orders issued by the Goods and Service Tax authorities against M/s Neelgiri Machinery, citing issues with the service of the preceding show cause notices. The court found that placing notices under a less visible tab on the GST portal could deny taxpayers a proper opportunity to respond.
M/s Neelgiri Machinery had filed petitions challenging show cause notices and subsequent demand orders for the assessment years 2017-18 and 2018-19, arguing that these were never effectively served. The company contended that although the notices were uploaded on the GST portal, they were located under the “Additional Notices and Orders” category, making them difficult to find and potentially overlooked by the taxpayer.
During the court proceedings, the tax department submitted a status report acknowledging that the GST portal functions differently for taxpayers and the department, and that information on the department’s side did not clearly indicate how notices appeared to the taxpayer. The department’s counsel conceded that the manner in which notices were displayed could lead to them being missed. The petitioner provided screenshots from the portal to support their claim that the notices were only visible under the “Additional Notices and Orders” tab.
