Tabasco Hindustan Infra Developers Private Limited Vs Assistant Commissioner of Central Tax And Central Excise (Kerala High Court)
Kerala High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by Tabasco Hindustan Infra Developers Private Limited challenging a penalty imposed under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Acts. The petitioner, a company involved in construction, had received an assessment order in September 2023, which included a tax liability and an equivalent penalty. While the imposed tax was paid, the penalty remained unpaid, and no appeal was filed within the statutory timeframe stipulated under Section 107 of the CGST Act. The writ petition challenging only the penalty component of the assessment order was filed more than 17 months after the original order.
The High Court, after considering the arguments from both sides, upheld the penalty. The court reiterated the established legal principle that the extraordinary remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution of India cannot be invoked once the statutory period for filing an appeal has expired. The court emphasized that the statutory scheme for appeals cannot be disregarded, even while exercising its discretionary powers. While acknowledging that intervention under Article 226 is possible in exceptional cases, such as when the impugned order is inherently without jurisdiction or violates principles of natural justice, the court found no such circumstances in the present case. Furthermore, the court noted that the petitioner had implicitly accepted the assessment order by paying the tax liability without filing a timely appeal, thus finding no justifiable reason to interfere with the penalty imposed. Consequently, the writ petition was dismissed.
