Sukumar Kundu Vs Union of India & Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court recently ruled on the case of Sukumar Kundu Vs Union of India & Ors., addressing critical issues concerning the service of show cause notices under the GST Act.
1. Case Background The petitioner, Sukumar Kundu, challenged a show cause notice dated 26th July 2023 issued under Section 73 of the WBGST/CGST Act, 2017, for the tax period from July 2017 to March 2018. Additionally, Kundu contested the adjudication order dated 28th August 2023 issued under Section 73(9) and a notice under Section 79(1)(c) dated 21st February 2024, which resulted in the attachment of his bank account.
2. Petitioner’s Argument Kundu’s primary contention was that he was unaware of the show cause notice and the adjudication order due to their improper uploading on the GST portal. The show cause notice was uploaded in the “view additional notices and orders” section instead of the “view notices and orders” section, causing him to miss the notice and not respond timely. Consequently, an ex parte adjudication order was passed, leading to the attachment of his bank account for Rs. 78,37,155.
3. Legal Submissions The petitioner’s advocate argued that the show cause notice did not comply with statutory provisions, as it provided only 15 days to respond instead of the required 30 days. The advocate supported this argument with screenshots of the GST portal and cited judgments from various courts that emphasized the proper service of notices.
