SCN can be issued both under Section 73 and 74 of CGST Act: P&H HC

Group M Media India Private Limited Vs Union of India And Others (Punjab and Haryana High Court)

The Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court in the case of Group M. Media India (P.) Ltd. v. Union of India [Civil Writ Petition No. 28974 of 2024 (O&M) dated October 24, 2024] dismissed writ petition and held that Issuance of Show Cause Notice (“SCN”) under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”) and dropping proceedings would not prevent the department from independently initiating subsequent proceedings under Section 74 of the CGST Act.

Facts:

M/s Group M Media India (P) Ltd. (“the Petitioner”) was served a SCN under Section 73 of the CGST Act. The Petitioner replied to it and the proceedings were dropped vide Order Dated February 28, 2023. With the same regard, the office of the DGGI had issued notices to the Petitioner to which the Petitioner had submitted reply.

Thereafter, the Petitioner was issued SCN under Section 74(1) of the CGST Act read with Section 20 of the IGST Act.

The DGGI was seized with the matter, the notice under section 74 of the Act could not have been issued to the Petitioner. The SCN issued under Section 74 of the CGST Act does not reflect and point out as to what manner of concealment of tax has been done by the Petitioner. Further, as per Section 74 of the CGST Act, the SCN should point out as to what are the incriminating allegations against the Petitioner and as to how the Petitioner has attempted a fraud to evade tax, any wilful mis-statement to evade tax, or suppression of facts to evade tax.