Tvl.Dimora Vs Assistant Commissioner (State Tax) (Madras High Court)
Madras High Court held that GST notice served only through GST common portal not accessible due to cancellation of GST registration. Accordingly, concluded that there was no service of notice and hence order quashed on account of breach of principles of natural justice.
Facts- The appellant was running a hotel business. The case on hand pertains to the assessment years 2018 – 2019 and 2019 – 2020. The hotel business ran into losses and had to be closed. Even the annual returns were not filed. Hence, GST registration was cancelled. Whileso, the orders impugned in the writ petitions came to be passed by the assessing officer calling upon the appellant to pay a certain sum towards tax and penalty.
Conclusion- Held that in this case, admittedly, notice was only made available on the common portal. Notice was not sent through RPID nor was and it served in person. As rightly pointed out by the learned counsel for the appellant, in view of cancellation of GST registration, they could not access the portal. When the assessee could not even access the portal, we have to conclude that there was no notice of service on the assessee. In this view of the matter, we hold that the orders impugned in the writ petitions were vitiated on account of breach of principles of natural justice. They stand quashed. The matter is remitted to the file of the assessing officer to pass orders afresh in accordance with law.
