M/S Diesel Power Generators vs. State Of U.P. And Another

Facts

The petitioner, M/s Diesel Power Generators, filed a writ petition challenging an order dated March 22, 2024, passed by the Commercial/State Tax Officer, Sector-1, State Tax, Ghaziabad, under Section 73 of the Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017. This order created a demand against the petitioner for the financial year 2018-2019. The petitioner contended that the notices and orders were uploaded on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab of the GST portal, and they were unaware of these proceedings, thus unable to appear before the authority or challenge the orders within the limitation period. The petitioner relied on a previous judgment of this Court in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. State of U.P. & 2 others, which dealt with a similar issue of notice upload location.

Held

The Court allowed the writ petition, quashing and setting aside the impugned order dated March 22, 2024, passed by the Commercial/State Tax Officer. The Court found that the issue of notices and orders being uploaded on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab, rather than the 'Due Notices and Orders' tab, was identical to the situation in the case of Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (supra). In that precedent, the Court had granted the benefit of doubt to the petitioner, acknowledging that the uploading method could lead to a lack of awareness and an inability to respond within the limitation period. The Court reasoned that no useful purpose would be served by keeping the petition pending or relegating the petitioner to statutory remedies, especially when the issue was covered by a prior judgment. The operative direction was for the Assessing Officer to issue a fresh notice to the petitioner with at least 15 days' clear notice, in accordance with the law, and to proceed further based on that notice. The Court explicitly did not leave any issue undecided.

Key Issues

1. Whether the uploading of notices and orders on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab of the GST portal, instead of the 'Due Notices and Orders' tab, constitutes proper communication to the petitioner, thereby affecting their ability to respond within the prescribed limitation period, under Section 73 of the Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017? Petitioner's Arguments: The petitioner argued that due to the notices and orders being uploaded on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab, they were unaware of the proceedings and consequently could not appear before the authority or challenge the impugned orders within the limitation period. They relied on the judgment in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. State of U.P. & 2 others, which held that such uploading methods could lead to a lack of proper communication. Respondent's Arguments: The learned counsel for the Department did not dispute the contentions raised by the petitioner regarding the uploading of notices and orders on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab. They also conceded that the issue was covered by the judgment in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (supra).