Tara Marine Syndicate Private Limited And Anr. vs. The Superintendent, Range Iii, Bhowanipur Division, CGST And Cx, Kol, South Comm. And Ors.
Original PDF →Facts
The petitioners, Tara Marine Syndicate Private Limited & Anr., challenged a show cause cum demand notice dated July 23, 2024, issued under Section 74 of the Central/West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, pertaining to the tax periods 2017-18 to 2019-2020. Subsequently, an order in original was passed by the proper officer on February 5, 2025, in furtherance of this show cause notice. The petitioners sought to challenge this order in original via a connected application (CAN 1 of 2025) filed with the writ petition.
Held
The Court held that since an order in original had already been passed upon adjudication of the show cause notice, the petitioners could not challenge it through a connected application, as this would constitute a separate cause of action. The Court observed that the show cause notice had merged with the final order. Therefore, the Court disposed of the writ petition and the connected application by permitting the petitioners to challenge both the show cause notice and the adjudication order in original dated February 5, 2025, in a composite manner, if they were so advised, in accordance with the law. No affidavit-in-opposition was called for, and thus the allegations in the writ petition and connected application were deemed not admitted by the respondents.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioners can challenge an order in original by way of a connected application when the show cause notice has already been adjudicated and merged with the final order, thereby giving rise to a separate cause of action? Petitioner's contention: The petitioners argued that they should be permitted to challenge both the show cause notice and the subsequent order in original in a composite manner. They sought to address the adjudication order through their connected application. Revenue's contention: The judgment does not record any specific arguments from the revenue or state. However, the Court's observation implies a procedural challenge to the method of challenging the order in original.
Sections Cited
Section 74
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
M/L 1074 04.04.2025 sb Ct 5
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURI ICTION APPELLATE SIDE
WPA 22353 of 2024 With CAN 1 of 2025
Tara Marine Syndicate Private Limited & Anr. Versus The Superintendent, Range III, Bhowanipur Division, CGST & CX Kolkata & Ors.
Mr. Ankit Kanodia
Ms. Megha Agarwal
Mr. Piyush Khaitan
… For the petitioners
Mr. Uday Shankar Bhattacharya
Ms. B. Bhattacharya
… For the CGST authorities.
Challenging show cause cum demand notice dated 23rd July, 2024 issued under Section 74
of the Central/West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the “said Act”) in respect of the tax period 2017-18 to 2019-2020, the instant writ petition has been filed.
Mr. Kanodia, learned advocate representing the petitioners by drawing attention of this Court to the order in original passed under Section 74 of the said Act by the proper officer dated 5th February, 2025, would submit that in furtherance to the above show cause the aforesaid order in original has been passed. He seeks to challenge the same by filing the above connected application being CAN 1 of 2025. 2
Considering the fact that an order in original has already been passed upon adjudication of the show cause notice, I am of the view that the petitioner cannot be permitted to challenge the same by way of a connected application as the same gives rise to a separate cause of action.
Since, the show cause has already been adjudicated and has merged with the final order, I am of the view that the above writ petition can be disposed of by permitting the petitioners to challenge not only the show cause but also the adjudication order in original dated 5th February, 2025 in a composite manner in accordance with law, if so advised.
With the above observations and directions the writ petition along with the connected application stands disposed of.
Since, no affidavit-in-opposition has been called for, the allegations made in the writ petition and the connected application are deemed not to have been admitted by the respondents. Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be made available to the parties upon compliance with the requisite formalities.
(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.