Tvl. Musthafa & Co Vs Deputy State Tax Officer (Madras High Court)
The writ petition before the Madras High Court challenged an order in Form DRC-07 dated 22 August 2024 passed by the Deputy State Tax Officer for the tax period 2019–2020. The impugned order arose from a show cause notice in Form DRC-01 dated 27 May 2024, to which the petitioner did not submit a reply, resulting in confirmation of tax, interest, and penalties. The confirmed demand included excess input tax credit, interest under Section 50(3), penalties under Sections 73(9) and 123, aggregating to ₹1,82,863 each under CGST and SGST, with no payment made.
The petitioner contended that on the same issue, an earlier show cause notice dated 13 December 2023 had been issued and subsequently, by an assessment order dated 31 August 2024 for the same tax period, the demand was dropped by the State Tax Officer. Upon examining the impugned order dated 22 August 2024 and the later assessment order dated 31 August 2024, the Court found that there was prima facie overlap in the demands confirmed.
In view of this, the Court remitted the matter back to the respondent for passing a fresh order on merits. The petitioner was granted liberty to file a reply to the show cause notice dated 27 May 2024 within 30 days, treating the impugned order as an addendum. The writ petition was disposed of without costs.
