National Aluminium Company Limited Vs Commissioner of Delhi Goods And Service Tax & Anr. (Delhi High Court)
The Delhi High Court, in the case of National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) Vs Commissioner of Delhi Goods And Service Tax & Anr., has allowed a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) to file a statutory appeal against a significant tax demand, even though the prescribed limitation period had already expired. The court acknowledged the possibility of inadvertent error by the large corporation in failing to respond to a Show Cause Notice (SCN) and took judicial notice of related, unresolved legal challenges concerning the extension of statutory deadlines.
The Origin of the Demand and Procedural Default
The petition challenged an order dated August 13, 2024, issued by the Office of the Sales Tax Officer II/AVATO for the Financial Year 2019-20, which raised a substantial demand of ₹32,31,595 against NALCO. This demand arose following a Show Cause Notice (SCN) issued on May 7, 2024, and a subsequent reminder.
The central procedural issue was the petitioner’s non-compliance at the primary adjudication stage. NALCO admitted that it had neither filed a reply to the SCN nor attended the personal hearing, leading to the impugned order being passed ex-parte. Furthermore, the Revenue objected to the High Court entertaining the writ petition because the time limit for filing a statutory appeal against the demand order had also lapsed. NALCO’s counsel attributed the procedural lapses to the SCN being “missed” due to inadvertence, citing the company’s status as a PSU.
