Gajendra Singh Cont. Vs Assistant Commissioner And Another (Uttarakhand High Court)
Summary: The Uttarakhand High Court considered a writ petition challenging a show cause notice dated 25.04.2024 issued under Section 73 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and an adjudication order dated 28.08.2024. The petitioner sought quashing of the proceedings and a direction for fresh consideration after being provided an opportunity of hearing.
The petitioner’s case was that his firm’s GST registration had been cancelled on 20.02.2020 and, after such cancellation, he was not expected to continue checking the GST portal. According to the petitioner, subsequent service of notice should therefore have been effected through alternative modes. Reliance was placed upon judgments of the Allahabad High Court, particularly, in M/s Ahs Steels vs. Commissioner of State Taxes (Writ Tax No.1676 of 2024) and M/s Katyal Industries vs. State of U.P. and others (Neutral Citation No.2024:AHC:23697-DB).
The principles from those decisions placed before the Court concerned Section 169 of the CGST Act and the manner in which notices may be served. The quoted observations recognised multiple modes of service, including direct tender, registered or speed post or courier, email, making the communication available on the common portal and, where other modes are not practicable, affixation or publication in a newspaper. The Allahabad High Court had observed, in the circumstances considered there, that making a notice available on the common portal was one permissible mode but was not necessarily the exclusive mode, particularly where the taxpayer’s registration had already been cancelled and the petitioner was therefore not expected to monitor the GST portal.
