R.R. Infratech Vs Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Karnataka High Court)
The Karnataka High Court partly allowed a writ petition challenging an adjudication order, recovery notice, and an endorsement denying the petitioner the benefit of the GST Amnesty Scheme 2025 for the tax period 2018-19. The endorsement stated that the petitioner was ineligible for waiver of interest and penalty because it had not uploaded the required declaration before 30 June 2025.
It was undisputed that, after receiving a pre-intimation in Form GST DRC-13, the petitioner had paid part of the tax demand initially and the balance before the adjudication order. The petitioner submitted that it had paid the entire tax demand before 31 March 2025 and would have been eligible for the Amnesty Scheme but for its failure to upload the prescribed declaration by the specified date. The petitioner clarified that its grievance would be resolved if it were permitted to avail the benefit of the Amnesty Scheme by filing the declaration even at this stage.
The petitioner relied on an earlier decision of a Coordinate Bench, which held that the Notification dated 8 October 2024 used the word “may” while prescribing the timeline for filing the declaration. According to that decision, the prescribed timeline was directory and not mandatory. Therefore, the petitioner argued that the authorities should have permitted the delayed filing of the declaration instead of rejecting the request.
