Oriental Lotus Hotel Supplies Private Limited Vs Joint Commissioner (Madras High Court)
The writ petition challenged the issuance of a single composite show cause notice and a single assessment order covering four financial years—2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22 and 2022–23—under Sections 73 and 74 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (GST Act). The petitioner contended that the GST Act mandates separate notices and separate adjudication for each financial year, as limitation for issuance of notice and passing of orders is fixed independently for every financial year under Sections 73(10) and 74(10).
It was argued that clubbing multiple financial years into one notice, especially when issued near the end of the limitation period for the first year, caused hardship. The petitioner submitted that such bunching prevented effective collection of evidence, restricted the ability to seek compounding under Section 138 for specific years, hindered availing of Amnesty Schemes applicable to particular years, and created obstacles in contesting or settling year-specific disputes. Reliance was placed on an earlier decision of the Court in Titan Company Ltd. vs. Joint Commissioner of GST & Central Excise, where bunching of notices was held impermissible, and on subsequent appellate proceedings directing independent assessment orders for each year.
