Kapil Raj Anand Vs GST Officer (Delhi High Court)
Summary: The Delhi High Court dismissed the writ petition filed by the petitioner seeking implementation of the digitally signed portal order dated 13.04.2024 which stated that proceedings initiated under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 for FY 2018-19 stood dropped. The portal order expressly stated that proceedings were dropped for reasons and details contained in its annexure. However, that annexure rejected the petitioner’s explanation on the fourth of four issues concerning input tax credit, upheld a demand and quantified tax, interest and penalty aggregating to ₹71,42,956/-.
The respondent explained that the contradictory portal recital resulted from selection of an incorrect option while generating the order and issued a corrigendum dated 28.05.2024 clarifying that proceedings were dropped on three issues while the fourth demand survived. The petitioner argued that the digitally signed portal order prevailed over the unsigned annexure and relied upon Marg ERP Limited v. Commissioner of Delhi Goods and Service Tax & Anr. It was also argued that FORM GST DRC-07 was unavailable and that the corrigendum could not create a demand after expiry of the adjudication period. The Court held that the portal order could not be read in isolation because it expressly incorporated the annexure.
