Rcc Eco Rcc Infra Jv Infraventures LTD vs. State Of Uttarakhand
Held
The Court found substance in the submissions made by the learned State Counsel. It held that since a statutory remedy of appeal is available to the petitioner under Section 107 of the Uttarakhand GST Act, all contentions raised by the petitioner before the High Court could be raised before the Appellate Authority. Consequently, the Court was not inclined to entertain the writ petition. The reasoning was based on the existence of an efficacious alternate remedy, which is generally preferred over writ jurisdiction for resolving tax disputes. The Court did not decide on the merits of the petitioner's claims regarding personal hearing or consideration of their reply.
Facts
The petitioner, a taxable person registered under the Uttarakhand Goods and Services Tax Act, challenged an order dated 22.05.2023 passed by the Deputy Commissioner, State Tax, Dehradun. The primary grounds for challenge were that the petitioner was not afforded a personal hearing and that the reply submitted to the show cause notice was not considered by the Assessing Officer. The State counsel contended that the petitioner neither appeared before the Special Investigation Branch/Enforcement nor the Proper Officer, and did not request a personal hearing as required by Section 75(4) of the Uttarakhand GST Act. The State also argued that the impugned order was passed under Section 74, which is appealable under Section 107, and thus a statutory remedy was available.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner was denied a personal hearing and whether their reply was considered, thereby violating principles of natural justice, in relation to the order passed under Section 74 of the Uttarakhand GST Act? Petitioner's arguments: The petitioner contended that they were not given a personal hearing and their submitted reply was disregarded by the Assessing Officer, leading to a violation of natural justice principles. Revenue's arguments: The State counsel argued that the petitioner failed to appear before the relevant authorities and did not request a personal hearing as mandated by Section 75(4) of the Uttarakhand GST Act. Furthermore, the State submitted that the order under challenge was passed under Section 74, which provides an alternate statutory remedy of appeal under Section 107, and therefore, the writ petition should not be entertained.
Sections Cited
Section 75(4), Section 74, Section 107
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
2024:UHC:5995 SL. No. Date Office Notes, reports, orders or proceedings or directions and Registrar’s order with Signatures COURT’S OR JUDGE’S ORDERS
WPMS No. 2205 of 2024 Hon’ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J.
Mr. Rakshit Joshi & Ms. Amrita Panda, Advocates for the petitioner.
Mr. Mohit Maulekhi, learned Brief Holder for the State of Uttarakhand.
Petitioner is a taxable person registered under Uttarakhand Goods and Services Tax Act. He is challenging the order dated 22.05.2023 passed by Deputy Commissioner, State Tax, Dehradun.
The principle ground of challenge is that petitioner was not given personal hearing, and the reply, submitted by petitioner to the show cause notice, was not considered by the Assessing Officer.
Per contra, learned State Counsel submits that petitioner neither appeared before Special Investigation Branch / Enforcement nor before the Proper Officer, therefore, it is too late in the day for the petitioner to raise grievance that he was not heard. He further submits that petitioner did not make any request for personal hearing, as required under Section 75(4) of Uttarakhand
The judgment continues below.
Read the full judgment
A free account opens 10 full GST judgments a month (one account works on both bharattax.net and this site). Re-reading one you have already opened does not count again.
The summary, the parties, the sections and the citations above are open to everyone and always will be. Only the text of the order and the PDF are metered.
Reproduced from the public record of the Uttarakhand High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.