M/S Pawan Kirana Store vs. State Of Uttar Pradesh And Another

Facts

The petitioner, M/s Pawan Kirana Store, is challenging a show cause notice dated December 27, 2023, and an order dated April 18, 2024, passed by the Commercial Tax Officer, State Tax, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, under Section 73 of the Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017. This order created a demand against the petitioner for the year 2018-19. The petitioner contends that the notices and order were uploaded on the GST portal under the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab, not the 'Due Notices and Orders' tab, making them unaware of the proceedings. Consequently, they could neither appear before the authority nor challenge the order within the limitation period. The Department, represented by the Standing Counsel, did not dispute these contentions regarding the uploading of notices and orders.

Held

The Court held that the petitioner is entitled to the benefit of doubt, as there was no material to reject their contention that the impugned order was not reflecting under the 'View Notices and Orders' tab. The Court referred to its previous decision in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. State of U.P. & 2 others, which dealt with a similar issue of improper uploading of notices and orders on the GST portal. The Court found no useful purpose in keeping the petition pending or relegating the petitioner to statutory remedies, especially since the disputed amount was already lying in deposit. Therefore, the Court quashed the show cause notice and the order passed by the Commercial Tax Officer. The Assessing Officer was directed to issue a fresh notice to the petitioner in the prescribed manner, providing at least 15 clear days' notice, and thereafter proceed in accordance with law. The ratio decidendi is that non-compliance with the prescribed method of communication of statutory notices and orders, leading to the assessee's lack of awareness and inability to respond within limitation, warrants setting aside the proceedings.

Key Issues

1. Whether the uploading of the show cause notice and order on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab of the GST portal, instead of the 'Due Notices and Orders' tab, constitutes proper communication to the petitioner under the Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017? The petitioner argued that due to the notices and order being uploaded on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab, they were unaware of the proceedings and thus could not respond or seek remedies within the prescribed limitation period. They relied on the High Court's decision in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. State of U.P. & 2 others. The respondent (State) did not dispute the petitioner's contentions regarding the uploading of notices and orders on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab and acknowledged that the issue was covered by the judgment in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. The Standing Counsel, based on instructions, stated that the assessing officer has no option to choose the tab for uploading and that any issue with the portal's functionality would need to be addressed by the GST Network.