Case Law Details
Pee Bee Enterprises Vs Assistant Commissioner (Kerala High Court)
The issue under consideration is whether the serving of assessment order by uploading it on web portal and not communicated separately to the assessee will be considered as valid under law?
High Court states that, the assessment orders dated 20.8.2019 were served on the petitioner through publication on the web portal on 20.8.2019 itself. Over and above that, an email was also sent to the petitioner at his registered email id, although the petitioner says that he did not receive the email but received only a copy of the or through registered post much later. I find however, that the service of an order through the web portal is one of the methods of service statutorily prescribed under Section 161(1)(c) and (d) of the SGST Act. If that be so, then the petitioner cannot deny the fact of receipt of the order on 28.9.2019 for the purposes of filing the returns as contemplated under Section 62 of the SGST Act with a view to getting the assessment order withdrawn. In as much as the return filed by the petitioner for the period April and May 2019 was only on 30.10.2019,ie., 71 days after the date of service of the assessment order through the web portal (20.8.2019), the petitioner cannot aspire to get the benefit of withdrawal of the assessment orders contemplated under Section 62 of the SGST Act. The assessment orders would therefore have to be held valid and the remedy of the petitioner against the said assessment order can only be through an appeal before the appellate authority under the Act.
FULL TEXT OF THE HIGH COURT ORDER /JUDGEMENT
The petitioner has approached this Court aggrieved by Exts.P1 and P2 assessment orders and Exts.P8 and P9 consequential demand notices issued him under the GST Act. In the writ petition it is the case of the petitioner that the assessments pertaining to the months April and May 2019 were completed under Section 62 of the SGST Act on best judgment basis, taking note of the non filing of returns by the petitioner assessee for the said month. While the assessment orders are dated 20.8.2019, it is the case of the petitioner that these orders were not served on him till much later and within 30 days after the from the date of receipt of the orders, he filed the returns as permitted under Section 62 of the SGST Act. He contends, therefore, that the assessment orders have to be treated as withdrawn by virtue of the provisions of Section 62 of the Act.
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