M/S Fana Enterprises Thru. Proprietor Rijwana And Another vs. State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. State Tax U.P. Lko. And Another

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD LUCKNOW WRIT TAX No. - 853 of 2025 Court No. - 2 HON'BLE MRS. SANGEETA CHANDRA, J. HON'BLE BRIJ RAJ SINGH, J. 1. Heard Shri Savitra Vardhan Singh, learned counsel for the petitioners, Shri Rajesh Tiwari, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel, who appears for the State-opposite parties and perused the record. 2. This writ tax has been filed by petitioners with following main prayer(s): "i. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari to quash the impugned order dated 10.06.2025, by which opposite Party No. 2 has passed an order for imposing the tax, interest and penalty of Rs. 2,27,95,646/- U/s 74 (9) for the financial Year 2022-23. (Annexure No.1) ii. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari to quash the show cause notice dated 16.04.2025 and reminder notice dated 23.05.2025 issued by the opposite party no. 2 under section 74 of GST Act, 2017. (Annexure No. 2 and 3) iii. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus commanding the opposite parties to not realize the arbitrary demand of tax, penalty and interest from the petitioner." 3. It has been submitted by learned counsel for the petitioners that a show cause notice was issued to the petitioners on 16.04.2025 as a proprietor of Versus Counsel for Petitioner(s) : Savitra Vardhan Singh Counsel for Respondent(s) : C.S.C. M/S Fana Enterprises Thru. Proprietor Rijwana And Another .....Petitioner(s) State Of U.P. Thru. Prin. Secy. State Tax U.P. Lko. And Another .....Respondent(s) proprietorship firm engaging in the business of sale and purchase of timber trading/plywood/blockwood, door and veener etc. showing liability of Rs.2,25,78,177/- under Section 74 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 (U.P.G.S.T. Act). The petitioners were informed to submit reply latest by 24.04.2025 and the date of personal hearing has been fixed as 25.04.2025 i.e. very next date in the said show cause notice, which was not served upon the petitioners within time, but the petitioners could not see it as the same was uploaded under the tab of 'Additional Notice and Orders' on the Dashboard/portal of the petitioners. No other mode of communication was resorted to by the opposite parties although notice should have also been posted by the opposite parties as well as uploaded on the correct tab in the dashboard/portal for 'View Notice and Orders'. Accordingly for want of knowledge, the petitioners could not respond to the same. The petitioners moved adjournment application on coming to know about the notice, but again the date and time fixed for personal hearing was uploaded on wrong tab, which is against the law laid down by this Court in the case of Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. versus State of U.P. & 2 Others; Writ Tax No.855 of 2024. 4. The petitioner submitted his reply on 05.05.2025 after the date allegedly fixed as 02.05.2025. It was issued a reminder notice on 23.05.2025 under Section 74 of the U.P.G.S.T. Act, 2017 fixing date of 29.05.2025 for submission of reply, but again such notice was uploaded on wrong tab of 'Additional Notice and Orders' on account of which the petitioners could not respond to the same in time and an ex parte order has been passed on 10.06.2025 by which tax, interest and penalty total amounting to Rs.2,27,95,646/- under Section 74(9) of the U.P. G.S.T. Act, 2017 has been imposed on the petitioners for the Financial Year 2022-23, which is contrary to the amount showing in the earlier show cause notice issued to the petitioners in violation of Section 75(7) of the U.P.G.S.T. Act, 2017 inasmuch as said show cause notice had only indicated liability of Rs.2,25,78,177/-. 5. It has been submitted by learned counsel for the petitioners that a Coordinate Bench of this Court in Writ Tax No.2055 of 2025; M/s Vibhuti Tyres versus State of U.P. and another; Neutral Citation No.- WTAX No. 853 of 2025 2 2025:AHC:74043-DB has allowed the petitioner on 07.05.2025 holding the order to have been passed in violation of Section 75(7) of the U.P.G.S.T. Act, 2017. 6. Learned counsel appearing for State/opposite parties has stated that he cannot argue beyond the facts as mentioned in the show cause notice and