Radhe Enterprise Vs Assistant Commissioner of State Tax (Gujarat High Court)
Gujarat High Court held that GST orders uploaded on GST portal cannot be unsigned as upload on GST portal is not possible without signature. Accordingly, writ petition is dismissed as being devoid of merit.
Facts- The petitioner is a proprietary concern of one Shri Jitendra Gordhanbhai Sojitra and is engaged in the business of trading. Notably, the respondent passed the order in Form GST DRC-07 on 29.12.2023 for tax period 2017-2018 after considering the reply filed by the petitioner and adjudication order in Form GST DRC-07 dated 14.03.2024 for Financial Year 20182019.
It is the case of the petitioner that orders received by the petitioner through courier are unsigned and on perusal of the impugned orders on GST Portal, the uploaded orders are also unsigned, and the respondent did not provide material sought for by the petitioner and therefore, the petitioner could not respond to the show cause notice accordingly.
It is also the case of the petitioner that since registration was cancelled in 2019, the petitioner was not able to verify the GST Portal and therefore, the petitioner was not aware about the impugned orders.
Conclusion- Held that in facts of each of the respective cases, it was found that the order was not signed either digitally or physically as required under Rule 26 of the Rules. However, in the facts of the present case, the impugned orders are uploaded on the GSTN Portal and without signatures, the orders cannot be uploaded. Therefore, the contention raised on behalf of the petitioner that the impugned orders are unsigned is not acceptable as there is nothing on record to show that unsigned orders are uploaded on the Portal.
