Avexa Corporation Private Limited Vs State of Andhra Pradesh and Others (Andhra Pradesh High Court)
Demand order passed is not valid when no proper time was granted to Assessee for collecting relevant document due to GST registration cancellation: Andhra Pradesh High Court
Summary: In the case of Avexa Corporation Pvt. Ltd. vs State of Andhra Pradesh (W.P. 10094/2024), the Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled that a GST demand order issued on January 24, 2024, was invalid due to the violation of principles of natural justice. The petitioner’s GST registration was canceled on October 31, 2023, and the restoration application was rejected. The petitioner filed an appeal, which was allowed on January 22, 2024, restoring the registration. However, while the appeal was pending, the tax department issued an intimation on October 10, 2023, and a show-cause notice (SCN) on December 26, 2023, demanding payment for discrepancies in returns from 2017 to 2023. The petitioner requested an extension to submit the required documents and a proper response, but the order was passed before the two-week extension was granted. The Court emphasized that administrative authorities must give adequate time to a person to gather material for their defense, and any violation of this principle renders the proceedings invalid. The petitioner was denied access to the necessary documents and the departmental website due to the cancellation of the registration. The Court observed that the impugned order was issued before the deadline for filing a response had passed and without granting adequate time for the petitioner to gather the required documents. Consequently, the Court set aside the impugned order and directed the authorities to provide sufficient time for the petitioner to respond, ensuring that the principles of natural justice are followed in future proceedings.
