Sajjan Kumar vs. State Of Up And Another
Facts
The petitioner, Sajjan Kumar, a proprietorship firm, assails orders dated May 17, 2023, a notice dated January 24, 2023, and an acknowledgement for appeal submission dated July 11, 2024, passed by respondent no. 2 and respondent no. 3 respectively. The petitioner contends that a show cause notice in FORM GST DRC-01, demanding Rs. 73,61,446/-, was issued for the tax period July 2017 to March 2018 (FY 2017-18). However, this notice and its reminder were posted in the 'additional notices and orders' section of the GST portal, not the main 'notices and order' section, preventing the petitioner from seeing them. Consequently, the petitioner could not file an objection, and an ex-parte order was passed without a proper opportunity for personal hearing, violating principles of natural justice.
Held
The Court held that the issue was squarely covered by the Division Bench judgment of the Court in M/s Ashish Traders (supra). It was not disputed that the show cause notice was uploaded in the 'additional notices and orders' section instead of the main 'notice and order' section of the GST portal, and the impugned order was passed ex-parte without affording the petitioner an opportunity of personal hearing. The Court found this to be a violation of natural justice. Consequently, the writ petition was allowed, and the impugned orders were set aside. The matter was remanded to the assessing authority to issue a fresh notice to the petitioner within one week of the certified copy of the order being produced. The petitioner was directed to submit a reply within 15 days of receiving the notice, after which the adjudicating authority was to pass a reasoned and speaking order within two months, affording due opportunity of hearing.
Key Issues
1. Whether the ex-parte order passed by respondent no. 2, without affording a proper opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner, violates the principles of natural justice, considering the show cause notice was uploaded in the 'additional notices and orders' section of the GST portal. The petitioner argued that the show cause notice and its reminder were not visible in the primary 'notices and order' section of the GST portal but were relegated to the 'additional notices and orders' section. This technicality prevented the petitioner from being aware of the proceedings and filing a response, leading to an ex-parte order without a proper opportunity for personal hearing, thus violating natural justice principles. The petitioner also relied on the Division Bench judgment in M/s Ashish Traders Vs. State of UP and another (Neutral Citation NO. -2024:AHC:173796-DB). The respondent State supported the impugned order.
Sections Cited
Section 73
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:91456 Court No. - 10 Case :- WRIT TAX No. - 1858 of 2024 Petitioner :- Sajjan Kumar Respondent :- State of U.P. and Another Counsel for Petitioner :- Rishi Raj Kapoor Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C. Hon'ble Piyush Agrawal,J.
Heard Mr. Rishi Raj Kapoor, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Ravi Shanker Pandey, learned ACSC for the State- respondents.
By means of present petition, the petitioner is assailing the orders dated 17.5.2023 passed by respondent no. 2 ( for tax period of July, 2017 to March 2018 F.Y. 2017-18), notice dated 24.1.2023 issued by respondent no. 2, and impugned acknowledgement for submission of appeal dated 11.7.2024 passed by respondent no. 3. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is a proprietorship firm having GSTIN No. 09ATHPK1522F1ZY. He submits that a show cause notice dated 24.1.2023 in FORM GST DRC 01 was issued by respondent no. 2 under Section 73 of the Act demanding Rs. 73,61446/- but the petitioner could not see the aforesaid notice as well as the reminder as it was not posted in the notices and order but the same was posted in additional notices and orders in the GST portal,
The judgment continues below.
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