Abdul Saleem Vs Assistant Commissioner (Kerala High Court)
Kerala High Court dismissed a writ petition challenging a show cause notice issued under Section 127 of the CGST and KSGST Acts, 2017. The petitioner was accused of issuing fake invoices without an actual supply of goods, using another entity’s GST registration for financial gain. The authorities alleged that the petitioner conspired with others to evade taxes by generating fraudulent Input Tax Credit. The petitioner argued that Section 122(1)(a) was enacted only from January 2021, making the charges for the period between October 2019 and March 2020 invalid. Additionally, the petitioner claimed that he was not a taxable person under the GST framework, rendering the proceedings against him legally unsound.
The court, after hearing both parties, ruled that the petitioner had an available remedy by filing an objection to the show cause notice and seeking adjudication on merits. It emphasized that judicial intervention under Article 226 of the Constitution is limited and should only be exercised in exceptional circumstances. The court cited past rulings, including Vicco Laboratories (2007), which established that interference at the show cause notice stage should be rare. The petitioner was granted two weeks to submit objections, which would be considered per legal procedures. Consequently, the writ petition was dismissed, directing the petitioner to explore alternative remedies within the prescribed legal framework.
