Muni Naga Reddy HUF Vs Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Karnataka High Court)
Karnataka High Court, in the case of Muni Naga Reddy HUF Vs Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, has set aside two adjudication orders issued under Section 73 of the GST Act, 2017. The court’s decision, delivered on July 23, 2025, stems from the petitioner’s assertion that no notice was issued prior to the impugned orders, despite the Revenue Department’s claim of sending email notices.
The petitioner contended that the orders, dated September 13, 2024, and January 11, 2025, covering the tax period of April 2020 to March 2021, were passed without proper intimation. In response, the Additional Government Advocate for the respondents stated that an email notice was dispatched on November 29, 2024, followed by a reminder on December 30, 2024, but the petitioner failed to appear.
Crucially, upon inquiry by the High Court, the learned Additional Government Advocate confirmed that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Department lacks a system to ascertain the delivery status of email notices, such as acknowledgements of receipt or indicators of when an email was opened or read. This absence of a tracking mechanism created a dispute regarding the actual receipt of the notices.
