Hanuman Industrial Corporation Vs Govt of NCT of Delhi (Delhi High Court)
The petitioner challenged an order dated 20.04.2024 passed by the Adjudicating Authority under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Delhi Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, confirming a demand of ₹46,27,512 on account of alleged excess utilisation of input tax credit (ITC), along with interest and penalty. The order was issued pursuant to a show cause notice dated 24.12.2023.
The show cause notice alleged that the petitioner had availed ITC from suppliers who had not paid tax on their outward supplies, invoking Section 16(2)(c) of the CGST Act. It also referred to two taxpayers whose registrations had been cancelled retrospectively.
In response, the petitioner contended that it had received the supplies, paid the full consideration to the suppliers, and that the suppliers were duly registered at the relevant time. It was further submitted that the GST portal reflected that taxes had been paid on the supplies.
The Court noted that the impugned order did not consider the petitioner’s contentions and mechanically confirmed the demand on the ground that ITC had been availed from “cancelled dealers, return defaulters & tax non payers.” The order did not specify which suppliers had failed to pay taxes or file returns during the relevant period.
