Nirmal Choudhury And Anr vs. Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General Of Goods An Service Tax Intelligance And Ors
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The petitioners, Nirmal Choudhury & Anr., are challenging repeated summons issued under the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (WBGST/CGST Act, 2017) by the Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence, Kolkata Zonal Unit. The first summons was issued on October 3, 2024, for appearance on October 4, 2024, which the petitioner could not attend due to short notice, but responded to by letter on October 28, 2024. A second summons was issued on November 13, 2024, for appearance on November 25, 2024, with a request for bank account details. The petitioners claim to have submitted the bank details but did not appear. A third summons was issued on December 13, 2024, to which the petitioners responded by letter on January 20, 2025, without appearing in person.
Held
The Court held that the writ petition was premature and therefore dismissed. The Court observed that summons were issued on October 3, 2024, November 13, 2024, and December 13, 2024. The petitioners did not appear on the dates specified in the first two summons and responded to the third summons by letter without appearing in person. The Court noted that the petitioners appeared to be avoiding responding to the summons and that no determination had been made by the respondents. The Court stated that there was no scope for the petitioners to be aggrieved at this stage and that they could not invoke the extraordinary jurisdiction of the Court to stall a fact-finding inquiry which has the sanction of law. Therefore, the Court found no scope to entertain the writ petition.
Key Issues
1. Whether the issuance of repeated summons under Section 70 of the WBGST/CGST Act, 2017, without adjudicating the jurisdictional issue raised by the petitioners, is permissible and amounts to harassment? Petitioner's arguments: The petitioners contend that the repeated summons are harassing and that their jurisdictional issue has not been adjudicated. They argue that they are not covered under the provisions of the said Act, and in support, they rely on a certificate of enlistment issued by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Revenue's arguments: The respondents argue that the steps taken are in accordance with the law and that no interference is called for. They submit that the petitioners are avoiding responding to the summons and that no determination has been made by the respondents at this stage.
Sections Cited
Section 70
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
05.05.2025 (M/L) Court No.05. (Pritam) WPA 1941 of 2025
Nirmal Choudhury & Anr.
-Vs.-
Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence, Kolkata Zonal Unit & Ors.
Mr. Rabindra Kumar Mitra (VC),
...for the petitioner.
Mr. Bhaskar Prosad Banerjee,
Mr. Tapan Bhanja
....for the respondent DGGST Authority.
Affidavit-of-service filed in court today be taken on record.
The petitioners are aggrieved by the issuance of repeated summons under the provisions to the WBGST/CGST Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the “said Act”). Records would reveal that on October 3, 2024, a summons was issued under Section 70 of the said Act calling upon the petitioner no.1 to appear in person on October 4, 2024. According to the petitioners, by reasons of the short notice, the petitioner no.1 could not appear. However, the petitioners duly responded to the same by a letter in writing dated October 28, 2024. 3. Subsequently, on November 13, 2024, the petitioners were issued another summons calling upon the petitioners to appear on November 25, 2024 along with details of the bank accounts of the business entity of the petitioners. The petitioners chose not to appear, however,
2 claims to have submitted the details of the bank accounts. Subsequently, on December 13, 2024, a further summons was issued. The petitioners once again chose not to appear but had responded to the same by a letter in writing dated January 20, 2025. 4. Mr. Rabin Kumar Mitra, learned advocate appearing in support of the writ petition would submit that although, the petitioners had raised a juri ictional issue, without adjudicating the same, repeated summons are being issued by the respondents. It is also the petitioners’ case that the petitioners are not covered under the provisions of the said Act and as such the aforesaid summons are only harassing the petitioners. In support of his contention, he has placed reliance on the certificate of enlistment issued by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
Mr. Banerjee, learned advocate appears for the respondents and submits that the steps taken by the respondents are in accordance with law. No interference is called for.
Having heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties and noting the materials on record, it would transpire that in the instant case, initially a summons had been issued on the petitioner no.1 on October 3, 2024. Since the petitioner no.1 did not appear, a further summons was issued on November 13, 2024, calling upon the petitioner no.1 to appear in
3 person on November 25, 2024. On this occasion, also the petitioner no.1 chose not to appear.
The authorities had since issued a further summons on December 13, 2024. Prima facie, it would transpire from the records that the petitioners are avoiding to respond to the summons. At this stage, no determination has been made by the respondents. In any view there is no scope for the petitioners to be aggrieved. The petitioners cannot be permitted to invoke the extraordinary juri iction of this Court to stall the fact finding enquiry which has the sanction of law. Having regard thereto, I am of the view that there is no scope to entertain the present writ petition.
The writ petition is premature and the same is, accordingly, dismissed without any order as to costs.
(Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.)
Reproduced from the public record of the Calcutta High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.