Shree Balaji Distributors vs. Union Of INDIA And Others

Facts

The petitioner, Shree Balaji Distributors, filed a writ petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the validity of service of a notice and an order-in-original. The petitioner contended that uploading these documents on the common GST portal, specifically in the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab, did not constitute proper service. The revenue authorities, Union of India and others, were the respondents. The core of the dispute revolved around the interpretation of Section 169 read with Section 146 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, concerning the procedure for service of notices and orders.

Held

The Court held that the issue raised in the writ petition was no longer res integra, meaning it had already been decided by previous judgments of the same Court. Specifically, the Court referred to its prior decision in CWP-27139-2025, Luxmi Traders v. Union Territory of Chandigarh and Others, which was further clarified by another judgment in CWP-15601-2026, The Amar Cooperative LC Society Ltd. v. State of Haryana and Others, decided on 23.07.2026. The Court found that the present case was squarely covered by these pronouncements. Therefore, the writ petition was disposed of in the same terms as the aforementioned judgments. The operative direction was to dispose of the instant writ petition in line with the previous rulings, implying that the Court's decision in those cases would govern the outcome here. The specific findings and reasoning from the Luxmi Traders and Amar Cooperative LC Society Ltd. judgments were not detailed in this excerpt, but the ratio decidendi would be that uploading on the portal, as per the established procedure, constitutes valid service under the relevant sections.

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 on the petitioner, in view of Section 169 read with Section 146 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017? Petitioner's Contention: The petitioner argued that mere uploading of documents on the GST portal, without any further notification or intimation, does not constitute proper service as mandated by the relevant provisions of the GST Act. They relied on the principle that service must be effective and bring the document to the notice of the party concerned. Revenue's Contention: The respondents/revenue contended that the uploading of notices and orders on the designated portal, as per the established procedure, is considered valid service under the GST Act. They likely relied on the interpretation of Section 169 and Section 146, which outline the modes of service, and possibly on administrative instructions or previous judicial pronouncements supporting this method of service.