Jovin George Vs Assistant Commissioner (Kerala High Court)
Summary: The Kerala High Court, in Jovin George Vs Assistant Commissioner, WP(C) No. 33147 of 2026, decided on 28 September 2026, quashed a consolidated GST show cause notice covering four financial years, namely 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24. The Court accepted the petitioner’s objection that a single composite notice covering multiple assessment years was legally unsustainable in view of earlier Division Bench decisions of the Kerala High Court. The impugned notice had been issued by the Assistant Commissioner, Central Tax and Central Excise, Kannur Division.
The petitioner relied upon two precedents: Joint Commissioner (Intelligence & Enforcement) v. M/s. Lakshmi Mobiles Accessories [2025 KHC OnLine 149] and Tharayil Medicals (M/s.), Thrissur v. Deputy Commissioner, Thrissur [2025 KHC OnLine 467]. Both decisions were cited in support of the contention that a composite show cause notice covering several assessment years could not legally be sustained. After hearing the petitioner and the Revenue representatives, Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A. found merit in the challenge, observing that the Division Bench had already reached the relevant conclusion.
Applying those decisions, the High Court quashed Exhibit P1, the show cause notice dated 27 August 2026. However, the Court granted the respondent liberty to issue separate notices for the relevant assessment years. Accordingly, the judgment does not finally determine the underlying tax liability or prohibit fresh year-wise proceedings. It invalidates the consolidated notice while preserving the authority’s ability to proceed separately in accordance with law.
The High Court further directed that the period commencing from the date of the Exhibit P1 show cause notice until receipt of the certified copy of the judgment would be excluded when calculating the limitation period for initiating fresh proceedings. All other contentions of the parties were left open. The operative relief is confined to quashing the composite notice, granting liberty to issue separate notices and providing the specified exclusion from limitation.
List of Cases Discussed / Relied Upon:
1. Joint Commissioner (Intelligence & Enforcement) v. M/s. Lakshmi Mobiles Accessories [2025 KHC OnLine 149] (Kerala High Court) — Relied upon for the Division Bench ruling against the legal sustainability of composite GST show cause notices covering multiple assessment years.
2. Tharayil Medicals (M/s.), Thrissur v. Deputy Commissioner, Thrissur [2025 KHC OnLine 467] (Kerala High Court) — Relied upon as a further Division Bench authority supporting the quashing of a consolidated notice covering different financial years.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT OF KERALA HIGH COURT
This writ petition is submitted by the petitioner challenging Ext.P1 consolidated Show Cause Notice which was issued by the 1st respondent for multiple financial years namely, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. The main challenge raised against the sustainability of the same is that, issuance of a composite notice for multiple assessment years was found to be not legally sustainable as per the decision rendered by this Court in Joint Commissioner (Intelligence & Enforcement) v. M/s. Lakshmi Mobiles Accessories [2025 KHC OnLine 149] and Tharayil Medicals (M/s.), Thrissur v. Deputy Commissioner, Thrissur [2025 KHC OnLine 467]
2. After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for the respondents and Sri. V. Girishkumar, the learned Standing Counsel for the respondents I find merit in the said submission, in view of the fact that, such a finding was indeed entered into by the Division Bench of this Court in the decisions referred to above.
In such circumstances, in the light principles laid down by this Court in the above referred judgments, an interference is required. Accordingly, this writ petition is disposed of, quashing Ext.P1, granting liberty to the respondent to issue separate notices for the relevant assessment years. However, the period from the date of Ext.P1 show cause notice, till the date of receipt of the certified copy of the judgment, shall be excluded while computing the period of limitation for initiating fresh proceeding. All the other contentions of the parties are left open.
