Kesarwani Enterprises Vs Commercial Tax Officer And Another (Allahabad High Court)
Allahabad High Court has set aside an adjudication order dated April 3, 2024, issued against Kesarwani Enterprises, citing a failure to adhere to natural justice principles regarding the service of show cause notices (SCN). The petitioner’s GST registration under the UPGST Act, 2017, was cancelled on January 2, 2021, effective from the same date.
The court noted that it was undisputed that the petitioner’s registration had been cancelled and had not been revived. Consequently, the High Court determined that Kesarwani Enterprises was not obligated to monitor the GST portal for show cause notices issued electronically for the period April 2018 to March 2019, which preceded the impugned adjudication order.
Crucially, the revenue department did not contend that any physical or offline notice was issued or served to the petitioner before the order was passed. The court emphasized that the essential requirement of rules of natural justice had not been fulfilled.
In light of these facts, the High Court set aside the order dated April 3, 2024. The petitioner has been granted a period of four weeks to submit a reply to the show cause notice. Following this compliance, the Commercial Tax Officer is directed to pass a fresh order after providing an opportunity for a personal hearing, preferably within three months. The writ petition has been disposed of with these directions. No judicial precedents were cited in the judgment.
