D.S. Muthuchamy vs. The Commissioner Of Commercial Taxes

Held

The Court, while acknowledging the petitioner's failure to participate in the proceedings, was inclined to provide relief. The Court quashed the impugned assessment order dated 30.04.2024 on the condition that the petitioner deposits 25% of the disputed tax within 30 days from the receipt of the order. The petitioner was also directed to file a reply to the show cause notice within a specified time. The quashed order was to be treated as an addendum to the show cause notice, and the respondent was directed to pass a fresh order on merits expeditiously, preferably within three months after hearing the petitioner. The Court made it clear that failure to comply with these conditions would result in the writ petition being deemed dismissed, allowing the respondents to proceed as per the GST enactments.

Facts

The petitioner, D.S.Muthuchamy, filed a writ petition challenging an assessment order dated 30.04.2024, passed by the Deputy State Tax Officer - 2, Palani-II Assessment Circle, for the tax period April 2018 to March 2019. The impugned order was preceded by a notice in Form GST DRC 01 dated 27.12.2023 and three reminders. The petitioner did not participate in the proceedings, leading to an adverse order. The petitioner's explanation for non-participation was that the notices were issued on the web portal, which they failed to notice, and consequently, they also failed to notice the passing of the impugned order.

Key Issues

1. Whether the assessment order dated 30.04.2024, passed by the Deputy State Tax Officer - 2, should be quashed on the grounds that the petitioner failed to notice the notices issued on the web portal, leading to their non-participation in the proceedings. Petitioner's contention: The petitioner argued that their failure to notice the notices and the subsequent order was due to the electronic mode of communication via the web portal, and therefore, the adverse order should be set aside. Revenue's contention: The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the revenue or state.