Gayathri Cargo Movers Vs State of Telangana (Telangana High Court)
Telangana High Court Permits Appeal with Delay Condonation Where GST Consultant’s Contact Details Caused Non-Receipt of Proceedings
The Telangana High Court considered a writ petition challenging a show cause notice in Form GST DRC-01 dated 22.01.2024, assessment order dated 16.04.2024 and summary in Form GST DRC-07 dated 16.04.2024 for the tax period April 2018 to March 2019. The petitioner stated that the GST consultant had registered the consultant’s own mobile number and Email ID on the GST portal, resulting in the petitioner being unaware of the adjudication proceedings and learning of the liability only after the assessment order was passed and the statutory appeal period had expired. The petitioner sought liberty to file an appeal, acknowledging that some delay might have occurred. The State Tax Department submitted that the petitioner could prefer an appeal on all available legal and factual grounds. Without commenting on the merits, the High Court granted liberty to the petitioner to file an appeal within two weeks, along with the statutory pre-deposit and a delay condonation application. The petitioner was permitted to raise all available grounds, while the appellate authority was directed to consider the delay in light of the stated circumstances and, if satisfied, decide the appeal on merits in accordance with law. The writ petition was disposed of with no order as to costs.
