Gangotri Engineers Thru. Proprietor Rajeev Pandey vs. State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. State Tax Lko And 3 Others

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW WRIT TAX No. - 1175 of 2025 Court No. - 3 HON'BLE SHEKHAR B. SARAF, J. HON'BLE PRASHANT KUMAR, J. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the record. This is a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India whereby the petitioner has made the following prayer: "I. Issue a writ, order or direction in nature of "certiorari" thereby quashing the impugned, ex-party uncontested Order U/S 73 of GST Act, 2017 in terms of DRC 07 dated 15.02.2025 for financial year 2020-21 passed by the opposite party no.3 i.e. Commercial Tax Officer, Raibarelly, Sector-1, Lucknow (B), Lucknow I, Uttar Pradesh, by means of which the O.P. No.3 has raised the demand of Rs.28,79,278.85/- including interest and penalty to the petitioner's firm, which is made in gross violation of the principles of natural justice; No physical/oral hearing in the matter was afforded to petitioner, adverse material has not been confronted to petitioner resulting in a most unfair trial. (Contained as Annexure No.1). II. And also issue a writ, order or direction in nature of Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Ishank Srivastava, Punit Kumar Srivastava, Rakesh Srivastava, Shashank Srivastava Counsel for Respondent(s) : C.S.C. Gangotri Engineers Thru. Proprietor Rajeev Pandey .....Petitioner(s) State Of U.P. Thru. Addl. Chief Secy. State Tax Lko And 3 Others .....Respondent(s)

'certiorari' thereby quashing the impugned Appeal Order dated 29.09.2025, in Appeal No.437/25 under Section 107 of the GST Act passed by the opposite party no.4 i.e. Additional Commissioner, Grade 2 (Appeal) State Tax, Judicial Section-3 Lucknow, U.P. by means of which the O.P. No.4 passed the appeal order dated 29.09.2025 whereby the appeal was dismissed as being beyond limitation. (Contained as Annexure No.2). III. And also issue the order or direction for refunding of amount deposited by the petitioner while preferring the appeal." From perusal of records, it appears that a show cause notice was issued to the petitioner on November 14, 2024 wherein filing of the reply was given as December 13, 2024 and the date of personal hearing was fixed on December 20, 2024. The petitioner did not appear in terms of the said show cause notice and thereafter an original order under Section 73 was passed on February 15, 2025. It further appears from the record that no further notice was given to the petitioner with regard to the hearing that was to be taken place on February 15, 2025 on which date the impugned order was passed. In view thereof, we are of the view that this matter is covered by the judgment of the Coordinate Bench of this Bench dated February 21,2024 in M/s. Shubham Steel Traders Vs. State of U.P. and another (Writ Tax No. 199 of 2024). In light of the same, we are of the view that the original order passed under Section 73 of the GST Act, 2017 is in violation of the principle of natural justice and, accordingly non est in law. Accordingly, the order dated February 15,2025 passed under Section 73 of the GST Act, 2017 and the order dated September 29, 2025 passed in Appeal No. 437/25, under Section 107 of the GST Act, are quashed and set aside with direction to the authorities concerned to grant another opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and thereafter pass the order in accordance with law. With the aforesaid directions, the writ petition stands disposed of. November 14, 2025 Arjun/- (Prashant Kumar,J.) (Shekhar B. Saraf,J.) ARJUN PRASAD High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench