Devendra Kumar Singh Vs State of U.P. (Allahabad High Court)
In a significant ruling, the Allahabad High Court has quashed a demand order issued under Section 73(9) of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act, 2017, against a deceased proprietor, Devendra Kumar Singh. The court, in the case of Devendra Kumar Singh Vs State of U.P., emphasized that while legal heirs are liable for tax dues, any proceedings for determining such liability must be initiated directly against them with proper notice.
The petition was filed by Harsh Vardhan Singh, son of the late Devendra Kumar Singh. He informed the court that his father had passed away on May 1, 2021. Subsequently, the GST registration of his proprietorship firm, M/s Devendra Kumar Singh, was cancelled retrospectively from April 1, 2021, by an order dated May 27, 2021.
Despite the cancellation and the proprietor’s demise, a show cause notice dated May 8, 2024, followed by a reminder on June 22, 2024, was issued in the name of the deceased under Section 73 of the GST Act. These notices were uploaded on the GST portal. However, as the registration was already cancelled and the proprietor deceased, his son, the petitioner, had no access to the portal, and thus, the notices went unanswered. This ultimately led to the impugned order dated July 31, 2024, which raised a demand of Rs. 3,85,947/- against the deceased Devendra Kumar Singh.
