Tvl. Saravanan Vs State Tax Officer (Intelligence) (Madras High Court)
Madras High Court has conditionally allowed a Goods and Services Tax (GST) payer, Tvl. Saravanan, to contest assessment orders issued under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The petitioner alleged that the State Tax Officer (Intelligence) invoked Section 74 to circumvent the limitation period prescribed under Section 73 for Assessment Year 2019-2020.
The petitioner had challenged assessment orders dated September 5, 2024, for Assessment Years 2019-2020, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024. For the 2019-2020 assessment year, the core contention was that the respondent wrongly invoked Section 74, which deals with cases involving fraud, willful misstatement, or suppression of facts, thereby extending the limitation period. The petitioner argued that the case should have fallen under Section 73, which has a shorter limitation period for non-fraudulent cases, rendering the order time-barred and without jurisdiction.
For the other two assessment years (2022-2023 and 2023-2024), the petitioner sought an opportunity to present his grievance, admitting that he had failed to respond to the initial notices for all three assessment years, including 2019-2020. The learned Government Advocate for the respondent argued for the dismissal of the petitions due to laches (delay) and the availability of an alternate remedy, which the petitioner had not exercised.
Comments are closed.