T K Navas Vs Commissioner of Goods And Service Taxes (Kerala High Court)
Kerala High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by T K Navas, who challenged an order issued under Section 73 of the SGST/CGST Act, 2017. The petitioner argued that the order was passed without proper notice, contending that simply uploading the notice to the common GST portal was insufficient, and service should have occurred via methods outlined in Section 169(1)(a), (b), or (c) of the Act.
However, the High Court clarified that Section 169(1) of the SGST/CGST Act contemplates various methods for serving notice, explicitly including Section 169(1)(d), which allows for service by making it available on the common portal.
The court emphasized that the statute recognizes any one of the specified modes as proper service. Consequently, effective service through any single mode is considered sufficient for initiating or continuing proceedings under the Act.
The High Court cited its own Division Bench decision in W.A. No. 938/2024, Sunil Kumar K. v. The State Tax Officer -I, Kottarakkara, which had already established that service of notice by making it available on the portal is indeed sufficient.
Finding no justifiable reason to intervene, the court dismissed the petition, while preserving the petitioner’s right to pursue other statutory remedies.
