Biswajit Daw Vs Assistant Commissioner State Tax (Calcutta High Court)
Summary: The Calcutta High Court set aside the ex parte GST adjudication order dated 8 November 2023 and the appellate order dated 12 June 2025 challenged by Biswajit Daw. The petitioner submitted that the show cause notices and adjudication order appeared under the “Additional Notices/Orders” tab rather than the “Notice/Orders” tab on the GST portal, preventing him from tracking the notices and participating in adjudication. His appeal, filed on 2 March 2024, had been dismissed after hearing him and considering the material placed before the appellate authority.
The Revenue explained that tax officers issue notices and orders through their own dashboard, which has no “Additional Notices and Orders” tab, and that the system determines where these communications appear on the taxpayer’s interface. It admitted that notices and orders issued by tax officers are made available under “Additional Notices/Orders” on that interface. The Court found that the petitioner could not be held liable for the ex parte adjudication because he bona fide believed that no notice or assessment order had been issued against him. To afford him an opportunity of being heard before assessment, it quashed both orders and permitted the Revenue to issue a fresh adjudication notice for the relevant assessment within one month from communication of the Court’s order. The writ petition was disposed of without costs.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF CALCUTTA HIGH COURT
Affidavit of service filed by the petitioner is taken on record.
The petitioner has assailed the ex parte adjudication order passed by the Assistant Commissioner, State Tax, Siliguri Charge, (SGST), being the 1st respondent herein, on 8th November, 2023 and the order passed by the Additional Commissioner of State Tax (Appeals), being the 3rd respondent herein, on 12th June, 2025 primarily on the ground that the show cause notices and the adjudication order were not uploaded by the Revenue under ‘Notice/Orders’ tab on the GST web portal. The notices were posted under the ‘ADDITIONAL NOTICES/ORDERS’ tab for which the petitioner was unable to track the said notices as a result of which an ex parte order was passed against him on 8th November, 2023. The petitioner preferred an appeal against the said order on 2nd March, 2024 which was dismissed upon hearing the petitioner and considering the material placed before the authority.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that he was unable to participate in the adjudication proceeding due to improper tabulation of notices and suffered the orders impugned due to no fault on his part. No opportunity of hearing could be availed of by him due to such fault on behalf of the Revenue.
Learned counsel for the respondents on the other hand, submits that the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has created an integrated online platform for taxpayers to manage GST compliance tasks such as registration, tax payments, return filings, refunds and appeals. This portal serves both taxpayers and tax officers.
The Tax Officers’ interface differs from that of the common portal meant for the taxpayer and the officers have no means to know the design/structure of GST common portal of the taxpayer. On the Proper Officer’s Dashboard, the Proper Officer can issue ‘Notices’ and ‘Orders’ from the two respective tabs present on the Dashboard and there is no ‘Additional Notices and Orders’ tab on the GST back office common portal. The Proper Officer has no choice in sending the Notices/Orders in assessee’s dashboard as it is done by the system. The Revenue admits that any ‘Notices/Orders’ passed by any tax officer are made available under the head ‘Additional Notices/Orders’ on the Taxpayer’s interface of the GST common portal.
Upon consideration of the submission made on behalf of the parties, it is clear that the ‘Notices/Orders’ uploaded by the Revenue is only opened under the tab ‘Additional Notices or Orders’ on the common portal of the taxpayers. The GSTN is also aware of such technical glitches.
In view of the above, this Court is inclined to hold that the petitioner cannot be held liable for the ex parte adjudication held on 8th November, 2023 since he was under the bona fide impression that no notice or assessment order was issued against him. The orders impugned are, therefore, required to be set aside in order to afford an opportunity to the petitioner of being heard prior to such assessment being made.
The adjudication order dated 8th November, 2023 and the appellate order dated 12th June, 2025 are quashed/set aside.
The Revenue will be at liberty to issue a fresh notice for adjudication upon the petitioner for relevant assessment within one month from the date of communication of this order.
The writ petition is disposed of.
There shall be no order as to costs.
Since no affidavit has been invited, allegations contained in the writ petition shall be deemed not to have been admitted.
Urgent certified website copy of the order, if applied for, be given to the parties on compliance of requisite formalities.
