Sahil Steels Vs State of Rajasthan (Rajasthan High Court)
In a significant ruling for taxpayers, the Rajasthan High Court has set aside a lower authority’s decision to dismiss a Goods and Service Tax (GST) appeal on the grounds of limitation. The court ruled in favor of Sahil Steels, a proprietorship concern, quashing the order of the Appellate Authority and restoring the appeal for a decision on its merits. The judgment centered on the interpretation of when an order is considered “communicated” to an assessee, particularly in cases where the assessee is unable to access the department’s common portal.
The case originated from a dispute between the petitioner, Sahil Steels, and its tax consultant, who had used his personal email and mobile number to register the firm under the GST Act. The petitioner alleged that a conflict arose when the consultant became irregular in filing GST returns and subsequently refused to provide the login credentials for the GST portal. This left the petitioner without access to their own account.
To resolve the issue, Sahil Steels formally requested the Commercial Taxes Officer, Circle-Churu, to change the login details on February 5, 2024. However, the Assessing Officer acted on this request only after a considerable delay, finally accepting it on March 17, 2025. Crucially, in the period between these two dates, the Assessing Officer passed an assessment order on July 25, 2024, and uploaded it to the common portal. Unaware of this development, the petitioner only discovered the existence of the assessment order when her bank account was attached by the department on March 5, 2025.
