OLA Fleet Technologies Private LimitedVs State of Odisha and another (Orissa High Court)
The matter concerned a challenge to an Assessment Order dated February 21, 2025, passed by the Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Bhubaneswar-II Circle, under Section 73 of the Central/Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (GST Act), for the tax periods from April 2020 to March 2021. The petitioner, OLA Fleet Technologies Private Limited, contested the order, arguing it was passed ex parte without proper service of statutory notices, leading to a violation of the principles of natural justice.
Petitioner’s Submissions
The petitioner asserted that it was never served with the notice in Form GST DRC-01 (Show Cause Notice) and that intimation(s)/notices were neither uploaded on the GST Portal nor communicated by electronic mail. Counsel for the petitioner emphasized that a screenshot of the GST Portal’s “intimations-notices” menu showed “no records found” (Annexure-4), indicating a “flagrant violation of principles of natural justice.”
While the petitioner acknowledged filing a response in Form GST ASMT-11 on June 1, 2022, to an earlier scrutiny notice in Form GST ASMT-10 dated March 30, 2022, they maintained that they received no communication thereafter. The petitioner learned about the ex parte demand order for the financial year 2020-21 only upon accessing the GST Portal. The petitioner further argued that the non-issue of the summary of notices/orders electronically violated the explicit provisions of the GST Rules, referencing Instruction No. 04/2023-GST dated November 23, 2023. Consequently, the petitioner prayed for the assessment order to be set aside and for an opportunity to present its case for fresh adjudication.
