Bhaskar Banerjee Vs State of West Bengal & Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
The writ petition challenged an order dated February 16, 2024 passed by the Appellate Authority under Section 106 of the WBGST Act, 2017/CGST Act, 2017, by which the petitioner’s appeal against an adjudication order dated July 26, 2023 under Section 73 of the Act was dismissed solely on the ground of delay. The petitioner contended that he had no knowledge of the show cause notice or the adjudication order, as both were served only by uploading them on the GST portal under the “Additional Notice and Orders” tab. According to the petitioner, knowledge of the order was acquired only when his bank intimated him about attachment of his bank account.
It was submitted that when the appeal was ultimately filed before the Appellate Authority, the delay was only eight days beyond the condonable period. After hearing the parties and examining the materials on record, the Court observed that the petitioner could not be regarded as grossly negligent in pursuing his remedy. The delay was found to be marginal, and the Court noted that refusal to condone such delay would deprive the petitioner of an important statutory appellate forum.
