M/S Premier Habitat LLP vs. The Joint Commissioner Of Commercial Taxes
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Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
ORAL ORDER
In this petition, the petitioner seeks the following reliefs: “(i) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ or certiorari quashing the Endorsement issued by the respondent No.1 bearing No.JCCT(APL)MNG/2024-25 dated 21.05.2024 herein marked as Annexure-A. (ii) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ or certiorari quashing the order passed under Section 73(9) of GST Act bearing Reference No/Case ID:AD290523002909W dated 27.07.2023 by the respondent No.2 herein marked as Annexure-B. (iii) Issue a writ in the nature of certiorari and quash the FORM GST DRC 13 issued under section 79(1)(c) of the GST Act by the respondent No.2 dated 03.10.2023 herein enclosed and marked as Annexure-C. NC: 2024:KHC:39868 (iv) Issue a writ of a writ of mandamus or direction in the nature of writ of mandamus directing the respondent No.2 to refund the amount recovered from Input Tax credit which workout to Rs.8,75,228/-. (v) And pass such other orders as this Hon’ble Court deems fit and proper in the interest of justice and equity.”
Heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and the learned AGA appearing for the respondents and perused the material on record.
A perusal of the material on record will indicate that pursuant to the show cause notice dated 05.05.2023 issued by respondent No.2 to the petitioner, which was followed by summary of show cause notice dated 16.06.2023 in FORM GST DRC -01A, the petitioner did not submit any reply. As a result of which, respondent No.2 passed an adjudication order dated 27.07.2023, which is impugned in the present petition.
Subsequently, the petitioner filed an appeal before respondent No.1-Appellate Authority, who issued the impugned endorsement stating that the appeal was barred by limitation. Aggrieved by the impugned endorsement and the impugned order NC: 2024:KHC:39868 passed by respondent No.2, the petitioner is before this Court by way of present petition.
It is submitted that due to bonafide reasons, unavoidable circumstances and sufficient cause, the petitioner could not submit his reply and contest the proceedings. As such, the impugned order and endorsement are liable to be set aside and the matter remitted back to respondent No.2 for reconsideration afresh in accordance with law and the petitioner may be granted liberty to submit a detail reply along with the documents and respondent No.2 may be directed to reconsider the matter afresh in accordance with law. It is also submitted that if the impugned endorsement at Annexure-A dated 21.05.2024 issued by respondent No.1-Appellate Authority is set aside since the same was issued as appeal having been barred by limitation, the petitioner would unconditionally withdraw the said appeal and proceed further before respondent No.2 in accordance with law.
Per contra, the learned AGA appearing for the respondents submits that there is no merit in the petition and the same is liable to be dismissed. NC: 2024:KHC:39868
A perusal of the material on record will indicate that it is an undisputed fact that the petitioner did not submit his reply / response, documents to the show cause notice dated 05.05.2023 and notice dated 16.06.2023, as a result of which, respondent No.2 passed an adjudication order and as such, in order to provide one more opportunity to the petitioner, I deem it just and appropriate to set aside the impugned order and remit the matter back to respondent No.2 for reconsideration afresh in accordance with law. So also, in view of the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner that if the impugned endorsement issued by respondent No.1-Appellate Authority is set aside, the petitioner would unconditionally withdraw the appeal, the impugned endorsement is also deserves to be quashed.
In the result, I pass the following: ORDER (i) The petition is hereby allowed. (ii) The impugned endorsement at Annexure-A dated 21.05.2024 is hereby quashed. NC: 2024:KHC:39868 (iii) The impugned order at Annexure-B dated 27.07.2023 and the impugned notice at Annexure-C dated 03.10.2023 are hereby set aside. (iv) The matter is remitted back to respondent No.2 for reconsideration afresh in accordance with law. (v) The petitioner undertakes to appear before respondent No.2 on 21.10.2024 without awaiting further notice. (vi) Liberty is reserved in favour of the petitioner to file a response / reply, pleadings, documents, etc., and the same shall be considered by respondent no.2 by giving sufficient and reasonable opportunity to the petitioner and provide the petitioner an opportunity of personal hearing and proceed further in accordance with law. (vii) It is made clear that any amounts recovered by the respondents till today shall be subject to the final outcome of the proceedings. NC: 2024:KHC:39868 (viii) In view of disposal of the petition, pending interlocutory applications, if any, does not survive for consideration and the same stands disposed of. (S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR) JUDGE
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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.