Nagpur Ashok Vs Additional Director General, DGGI, NZU, Nagpur and Ors. (Bombay High Court)
In this case, the petitioner challenged a demand-cum-show cause notice dated 28.05.2025 issued under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act), along with the consequential order-in-original dated 29.12.2025. The proceedings related to the period from April 2018 to September 2023 and involved allegations of tax liability spanning multiple financial years.
The primary contention raised by the petitioner was that the notice was invalid as it clubbed multiple tax periods/financial years into a single show cause notice (SCN), which was not permissible under the statutory scheme of the CGST Act. The petitioner relied on earlier Division Bench judgments of the Bombay High Court, including M/s. Milroc Good Earth Developers Vs. Union of India & Ors. (Bombay High Court, Goa Bench, 2025) and Rite Water Solutions (India) Ltd. Vs. Joint Commissioner, CGST & Central Excise, Nagpur & Ors. (Bombay High Court, 2025), which had held that consolidation of multiple financial years in a single SCN under Section 74 is not permissible.
The Court examined the statutory framework of the CGST Act and reiterated the principles laid down in the above precedents. It emphasized that GST liability is structured around defined “tax periods,” typically linked to financial years and annual returns. The Act prescribes separate timelines for assessment and recovery for each financial year, including a limitation period of five years from the due date of filing the annual return for that year under Sections 73(10) and 74(10).
