Epping Royalty PVT LTD vs. Union Of INDIA And Others

Facts

The petitioner, Epping Royalty Pvt Ltd, 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 under the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab did not constitute proper service. The revenue argued that if the petitioner had knowledge of the notice and contested the proceedings, service by uploading on the portal should be considered valid. The specific tax period and the authority that passed the order-in-original were not explicitly detailed in the provided text, nor was the amount in dispute.

Held

The Court held that service of a Show Cause Notice (SCN) upon the petitioner/assessee cannot be deemed sufficient merely on account of its uploading on the Common Portal, unless its receipt is acknowledged or a reply is filed. The Court further elaborated that where an SCN is served only by way of uploading it on the Common Portal and in the absence of a reply filed by the petitioner/assessee, an ex parte order is passed, the proceedings would stand restored to the stage of issuance of SCN. The petitioner would then be at liberty to file a reply to the SCN within four weeks, after which the Department shall proceed further after affording a required opportunity of hearing. In cases where the order-in-original is passed after contest and served only by uploading on the Common Portal, the period of limitation for filing an appeal would not be triggered, and the aggrieved assessee would have the right to file an appeal within four weeks. If appeals against such orders were dismissed on limitation, the Appellate Court's order would be set aside, and the appeal would stand restored for hearing on merits. The Court's ratio is that service by portal upload is not sufficient unless acknowledged or replied to, and it provided specific directions for restoration of proceedings and appeals based on whether the order was passed ex parte or after contest.

Key Issues

1. Whether uploading of a notice and an order-in-original on the common portal (www.gst.gov.in) under the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab amounts to proper service on the petitioner, in view of Section 169 read with Section 146 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017? Petitioner's Argument: The petitioner argued that mere uploading of documents on the portal does not constitute proper service. Revenue's Argument: The revenue contended that if the concerned person has knowledge of the notice and has contested the proceedings by filing a reply, then service by uploading on the common portal cannot be discarded. In such cases, the show cause notice (SCN) cannot be deemed as not served upon the assessee. The revenue relied on the principle that if an SCN has been responded to and an order-in-original passed after contest, the order-in-original cannot be challenged solely due to a defect in service of the SCN/order by uploading it on the common portal.