National Aluminium Company Limited Through Sandeep Darbari Chief General Manager Vs Commissioner of Delhi Goods And Service Tax & Ors (Delhi High Court)
The Delhi High Court has set aside a tax demand of over ₹3.16 crore levied against National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), a public sector undertaking (PSU), for the financial year 2018-19. The court’s decision, issued in the case of National Aluminium Company Limited v. Commissioner of Delhi Goods and Service Tax, was based on the principle that the company was not afforded a proper opportunity to respond to the show cause notice (SCN) that initiated the proceedings. The court remanded the matter back to the tax authorities for a fresh adjudication, directing them to give NALCO a fair chance to present its case.
The central issue in the case was the procedural fairness of the tax assessment. NALCO challenged the final order, arguing that the initial SCN, dated December 5, 2023, and a subsequent reminder, dated January 17, 2024, were not properly brought to its attention. The company’s counsel stated that the SCN was uploaded to a section of the GST portal called the ‘Additional Notices Tab’. Critically, the GST portal’s layout was changed on January 16, 2024, just one day before the reminder was issued. NALCO contended that because of this change, it likely missed the reminder and the original notice, resulting in its failure to file a reply or appear for a personal hearing.
