New Allied LPG Appliances Vs Sales Tax Officer Class Ii/Avato (Delhi High Court)
In the case of New Allied LPG Appliances v. Sales Tax Officer Class II/AVATO, Ward 79 (Delhi High Court), the petitioner challenged a show cause notice (SCN) dated 23 September 2023 and subsequent adjudication order dated 3 December 2023 issued under the GST regime for the financial year 2017-18. The petition also challenged parallel notifications (No. 09/2023-Central Tax of 31 March 2023; No. 09/2023-State Tax of 22 June 2023) issued under Section 168A of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act) to extend limitation for issuance of SCNs. The key contention was that the SCN was uploaded on the “Additional Notices” tab of the GST portal, which the petitioner claimed was not visible to them, thus they were deprived of an opportunity to file a reply or secure a personal hearing. The Delhi High Court granted relief to the petitioner on procedural grounds, while leaving open the larger question of the validity of the notifications.
Factual and Legal Background
The petitioner, New Allied LPG Appliances, argued that the SCN issued by the Sales Tax Officer on 23 September 2023 was never effectively communicated. The notice was uploaded on the GST portal under “Additional Notices”, which the petitioner asserted they did not check and were unaware of, thus they did not file a reply and no personal hearing was held before the ex-parte order of 3 December 2023 was passed. The petitioner also challenged the notifications (Central and State) issued under Section 168A CGST, which allow extension of time‐limits for adjudication under Section 73 CGST Act.
