Rahman Sales Vs State of Jharkhand (Jharkhand High Court)
Jharkhand High Court has quashed a demand order issued against Rahman Sales for the period 2017-18, citing a clear violation of natural justice principles due to the non-uploading of the order on the GST portal and a lack of proper communication to the petitioner.
The case originated from an inspection of Rahman Sales’ premises on December 1, 2018, conducted in the absence of the proprietor or his representative. Subsequently, a summary of an order in Form GST DRC-07, dated March 14, 2019, was issued, demanding tax, interest, and penalty. The petitioner, Rahman Sales, contended that they never received the mandatory pre-show cause notice in Form GST DRC-01 online. Furthermore, they argued that the DRC-07 order was issued with an invalid reference number and was never properly uploaded to the GST portal.
Rahman Sales maintained that despite receiving an email on March 14, 2019, instructing them to access their dashboard for the order, the DRC-07 order itself was not attached to the email, nor was it available on the portal. The business stated it could not appear before the authorities earlier due to a family ailment.
The respondents, representing the tax authorities, acknowledged a “technical glitch” causing a delay in uploading Form DRC-07. However, the High Court noted that the counter-affidavit filed by the respondents failed to specify when the order was actually uploaded and made available for the petitioner to download. The docket sheet for March 14, 2019, also indicated that the DRC-07 was not uploaded on the same day it was issued.
