M/S. Eastern Power Distribution Company Of Andhra Pradesh Limited vs. The State Of Andhra Pradesh
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APHC010069412026
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Juri iction) [3529] WEDNE AY,THE ELEVENTH DAY OF FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY SIX PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE R RAGHUNANDAN RAO THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE T.C.D.SEKHAR WRIT PETITION NO: 3967/2026 Between:
M/S. EASTERN POWER DISTRIBUTION COMPANY OF ANDHRA PRADESH LIMITED, (APEPDCL), REPRESENTED BY ITS CHIEF GENERAL MANAGER (FINANCE), CORPORATE OFFICE, P AND T COLONY, SEETHAMMADHARA,
VISAKHAPATNAM, ANDHRA PRADESH.
...PETITIONER AND 1. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH, REPRESENTED BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, COMMERCIAL TAXES DEPARTMENT, SECRETARIAT BUILDINGS, VELAGAPUDI, GUNTUR DISTRICT.522237
THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER ST, O/O. CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF STATE TAX, RK SPRING VALLY APARTMENTS, BANDAR ROAD, VIJAYAWADA.520010
THE ADDITIONAL/JOINT COMMISSIONER ST, DWARAKA NAGAR, VISAKAHAPATNAM 530016
THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER ST, SPECIAL CIRCLE/VSP-L O/O. JOINT COMMISSIONER, VISAKHAPATNAM-I DIVISION.530016
THE JOINT COMMISSIONER APPEALS, MOGALRAJAPURAM, VIJAYAWADA. 520010
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UNION OF INDIA, REPRESENTED BY ITS FINANCE SECRETARY, FINANCE DEPARTMENT, NEW DELHI.110001
...RESPONDENT(S): Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased tomay be pleased to issue a Writ of Certiorari calling for all records connected with the impugned proceedings, including the orders passed by the Respondent No.4 vide order No.AD3705250059703, dated 25.11.2025, pertaining to the assessment years 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, whereby a single composite order has been passed for multiple assessment years by invoking Section 73 (9) of the Andhra Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, without juri iction, without authority of law, and contrary to the provisions of the Act, and consequently set aside the orders passed by Respondent No.4 vide order No.AD3705250059703, dated 25.11.2025 and pass such IA NO: 1 OF 2026 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to suspend the impugned order of the Respondent No.4 vide order No.AD3705250059703, dated 25.11.2025, forthwith pending disposal of the writ petition and pass such Counsel for the Petitioner:
K RAGHU VEER Counsel for the Respondent(S):
GP FOR COMMERCIAL TAX
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The Court made the following Order: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice R. Raghunandan Rao)
Heard Sri K.Raghuveer, the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Commercial Tax appearing for the respondents.
The petitioner is a registered State owned Government Company, which has been served with assessment order, dated 25.11.2025 vide No.AD3705250059703, by the 4th respondent. This assessment order covers the period from April 2021 to March, 2024. 3. The petitioner, after having raised various grounds of challenge, has pressed the ground that, a single order of assessment, issued for more than one financial year, would be violative of the provisions of Section 73 and Section 74 of the GST Act, 2017, and consequently, set aside the impugned order of assessment.
A Division Bench of this Court, in W.P.No.11028 of 2025 & batch, after considering the said question, had held that, a single show-cause notice or a single composite assessment order, cannot be passed, in relation to more than one tax period of either a month if the assessment is taken up before the due date for filing of the annual return or for more than one year if the due date for filing of annual return has been reached.
The petitioner has raised various grounds of challenge. However, the petitioner is pressing the primary ground of the assessment order being a
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composite order of assessment. The learned counsel for the petitioner would also contend that the assessing authority is not considering the objections raised by the petitioner. In that view of the matter, the present Writ Petition is being disposed of, on this ground of challenge, leaving open the other grounds of challenge.
Accordingly, this Writ Petition is disposed of, setting aside the impugned assessment order, dated 25.11.2025 and remand back to the respondents, leaving it open to the respondents to initiate fresh proceedings, for each assessment year separately. Needless to say, that the period from the date of issuance of the impugned order of assessment till the date of receipt of this order shall be excluded for the purpose of limitation. There shall be no order as to costs.
As a sequel, pending miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed.
________________________ R. RAGHUNANDAN RAO, J
_________________ T.C.D. SEKHAR, J Date: 11.02.2026 KA
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THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE R RAGHUNANDAN RAO THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE T.C.D.SEKHAR
WRIT PETITION NO: 3967/2026
Date: 11.02.2026 KA
Reproduced from the public record of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.