Palakkandy Steels Pvt. Ltd. Vs Assistant Commissioner of State Tax (Kerala High Court)
The Kerala High Court considered appeals against a judgment of the learned Single Judge concerning orders issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act and SGST Act. The Single Judge had quashed the orders because they did not bear the digital or manual signatures of the issuing Officers. However, the Single Judge permitted the Officers to upload the same orders after affixing digital signatures or serve copies bearing manual signatures. Where the incumbent Officer had changed, the successor was also permitted to issue the same orders after providing an opportunity of hearing to the appellants. The Single Judge further directed that such orders could not be challenged on limitation grounds.
The appellants contended that the notices preceding the impugned orders should also have been quashed because they too lacked digital or manual signatures. They further argued that once the orders had been quashed, the same orders could not be reissued merely by curing the signature defect, whether by the original Officer or a successor. They also challenged the protection granted against limitation.
The State opposed the appeals, submitting that the Single Judge had treated the absence of signatures as only a technical defect and had not examined the merits or found the orders illegal. According to the State, the Officer could therefore proceed from the stage at which the orders had been issued.
