M/S Emmanuel Constructions Private LTD vs. Assistant Commissioner Of Commercial Taxes
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Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
ORDER PASSED BY THE RESPONDENT, BEARING NO.JCCT/DGSTO-4/ACCT(AUDIT)- 4.6/GST/U-73/T- /2024-25, DATED 19.07.2024, AS AT ANNEXURE-A AND ETC.
THIS PETITION, COMING ON FOR PRELIMINARY HEARING, THIS DAY, ORDER WAS MADE THEREIN AS UNDER: CHANDANA B M Location: High Court of Karnataka NC: 2025:KHC:15272 CORAM: HON'BLE MR JUSTICE S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR
ORAL ORDER
In this petition, petitioner seeks for the following reliefs: A. Issue a Writ of Certiorari or any other Writ or Order or direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the impugned Adjudication Order passed by the Respondent, bearing No.JCCT/DGSTO-4/ACCT(AUDIT)-4.6/GST/U- 73/T- /2024-25, dated 19-07-2024, as at ANNEXURE-A;
B. Issue a Writ of Certiorari or any other Writ or Order or direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the impugned 'Rectification' under Section 161 of KGST/CGST Act, 2017, of Adjudication Order', passed by the Respondent, bearing No.JCCT/DGSTO-4/ACCT(AUDIT)- 4.6/GST/U-73/T- /2024-25, dated 10-09-2024, as at ANNEXURE-B;
C. Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other writ or order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the Respondent to provide one more opportunity of hearing to the Petitioner so as to enable it to appear before her/him and produce the books of accounts, based on which a considered order could be passed on merits;
D. Grant any other relief/s that this Hon'ble Court deems fit in the facts and circumstances of the case including costs, in the interest of justice and equity. NC: 2025:KHC:15272
Heard learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner and learned AGA for the respondent and perused the material on record.
In addition to reiterating the various contentions urged in the petition and referring to the material on record, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner has invited my attention to the impugned Order-in-Original dated 19.07.2024 at Annexure-A in order to contend that due to bonafide, unavoidable circumstances and sufficient cause, the petitioner was unable to submit his reply to Show Cause Notice dated 02.05.2024 and contest the proceedings which culminated in the impugned order. Due to inadvertence, petitioner did not approach this Court at that time itself but filed rectification application, which was only partly allowed by the respondent passing the rectification order dated 10.09.2024. It is submitted that the petitioner has good defence on merits and both the impugned order dated 19.07.2024 as well as the rectification order dated 10.09.2024 may be set aside and the matter may be remitted back to the respondent for reconsideration afresh in accordance with law. NC: 2025:KHC:15272
Per contra, learned AGA for the respondent submits that there is no merit in the petition and the same is liable to be dismissed.
As rightly contended by the learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner, respondent records at paragraph No.17 of the impugned order that the petitioner did not participate in the proceedings and did not, reply despite providing sufficient opportunity to him; however, in the light of the specific assertion on the part of the petitioner that due to bonafide reasons, unavoidable circumstances and sufficient cause, the petitioner was not in a position to submit reply and contest the proceedings and in order to provide one more opportunity to the petitioner, by adopting a justice oriented approach, I deem it just and appropriate to set aside the impugned order and remit the matter back to the respondent for reconsideration afresh in accordance with law after providing one more opportunity to the petitioner in this regard.
In the result, I pass the following: ORDER (i) Petition is hereby allowed. NC: 2025:KHC:15272 (ii) The impugned adjudication order at Annexure– A dated 19.07.2024 and impugned rectification order at Annexure-B dated 10.09.2024 respectively, are hereby set aside. (iii) The matter is remitted back to the stage of petitioner submitting reply to Show Cause Notice dated 02.05.2024 at Annexure-E under Section 143(2) and to proceed further in accordance with law. (iv) The petitioner shall appear before the respondent on 19.05.2025, on which date, he shall submit his reply to the show cause notice along with relevant documents. (v) Upon the petitioner submitting a reply along with relevant documents to the show cause notice on 19.05.2025, the respondent shall afford a reasonable opportunity to the petitioner and hear him and proceed further in accordance with law. (vi) Liberty is reserved in favour of the petitioner to file its reply, pleadings, documents, etc., before the respondent, who shall consider the same and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law within a period of three months from the date of receipt of copy of this order. NC: 2025:KHC:15272 (vii) The petitioner shall deposit Rs.25,00,000/- within a period of four weeks from today. (viii) All rival contentions are kept open and no opinion is expressed on the same. (ix) It is needless to state that the said amount shall be subject to the final outcome of the said proceedings. (S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR) JUDGE
MDS List No.: 2 Sl No.: 15
Reproduced from the public record of the Karnataka High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.