Pramod Luthra vs. State Of Punjab And Ors

Held

The Court held that the issue raised in the present writ petition is squarely covered by its previous judgments in CWP-27139-2025, Luxmi Traders v. Union Territory of Chandigarh and Others, and CWP-15601-2026, The Amar Cooperative LC Society Ltd. v. State of Haryana and Others. Consequently, the instant writ petition was disposed of in the same terms as those prior judgments. The reasoning is that the court has already determined the interpretation of Section 169 read with Section 146 of the GST Act concerning service via the common portal. The ratio decidendi from the cited cases would be that service through the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab on the GST portal is not considered proper service. The operative direction was to dispose of the petition in line with the previous judgments. No issue was expressly left undecided.

Facts

The petitioner, Pramod Luthra, challenged the validity of service of a notice and an order-in-original. The petitioner contended that uploading these documents in the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab on the common GST portal (www.gst.gov.in) did not constitute proper service. The respondents are the State of Punjab and another authority. The tax period is not specified. The core of the dispute revolves around the interpretation of Section 169 read with Section 146 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, concerning the method of service of official communications. The procedural history indicates this is a writ petition before the High Court.

Key Issues

1. Whether uploading of a notice and an order-in-original in the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab on the common portal, www.gst.gov.in, amounts to proper service of the same on the petitioner, in view of Section 169 read with Section 146 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017? The petitioner argued that such an upload does not constitute proper service. The revenue or State did not explicitly record arguments in the judgment, but their stance would be that the upload constitutes valid service. The court noted that the issue is no longer res integra and has been concluded by previous judgments of the High Court in CWP-27139-2025, Luxmi Traders v. Union Territory of Chandigarh and Others, and further clarified in CWP-15601-2026, The Amar Cooperative LC Society Ltd. v. State of Haryana and Others.