B. Enterprise & Anr. Vs State of West Bengal as Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
Calcutta HC Set Aside Ex Parte GST Adjudication Order Passed Without Personal Hearing Under Section 73(9) WBGST Act
The Calcutta High Court considered a writ petition challenging an adjudication order dated April 12, 2024 passed under Section 73 of the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The petitioners contended that the show-cause notice dated December 14, 2023 fixed a date for filing a reply but did not specify the date, time, or venue of personal hearing. They further submitted that the reminder dated March 2, 2024 similarly omitted these details and that the adjudication order under Section 73(9) was passed without granting any opportunity of hearing. The petitioners also alleged that the show-cause notice, reminder, and adjudication order were uploaded in the “Additional notices and orders” tab instead of the “Normal Tab”, due to which they remained unaware of the proceedings until receiving an intimation dated May 18, 2026 regarding payment of the demand, by which time the limitation for filing an appeal had expired. The State submitted that uploading the documents on the server constituted sufficient statutory compliance.
The Court noted that returns filed under Section 39(1) for the period April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019 had been examined, discrepancies were allegedly detected, and Form DRC-01A dated November 8, 2023 had been issued before the show-cause notice under Section 73. The Court observed that the show-cause notice required a reply by January 15, 2024, but the fields relating to the date, time, and venue of personal hearing were marked “NA”, while the reminder also did not specify any personal hearing. Referring to Section 73(9), the Court observed that determination of tax, interest, and penalty is to be made after considering the representation, if any, made by the person chargeable with tax.
