Niraj Kumar Jaiswal vs Deputy Commissioner of State Tax (Calcutta High Court)
Calcutta High Court has issued a restraining order preventing the West Bengal State Tax authorities from continuing audit proceedings against Niraj Kumar Jaiswal for the tax period 2022-23. The court’s decision was based on the prima facie observation that a final audit report for the same period had already been published by the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) authorities, indicating that the petitioner had settled the tax liability, including interest and penalty. This ruling addresses a jurisdictional conflict arising from seemingly parallel audit actions by central and state GST bodies.
The petitioner, Niraj Kumar Jaiswal, challenged the initiation of an audit under Section 65 of the WBGST Act, 2017, by the State authorities. His contention was that a final audit report under Section 65(6) of the CGST Act, 2017, had already been issued in Form GST ADT – 02 on April 15, 2024, covering the same tax period. Despite communicating this to the Deputy Commissioner via a letter dated April 1, 2024, the State authorities proceeded with their communication dated April 4, 2024, summoning the petitioner for an audit. The petitioner argued that allowing parallel proceedings for the same tax period by separate authorities is impermissible.
