GST Update

Desk of CA. Praveen Sharma – 844 Series (CAPS 152 )

Delhi High Court in the case of Seven Seas Lights Pvt. Ltd.

The petitioner challenged an order dated 20 February 2025, confirming a tax demand of ?28.86 lakh for FY 2020–21 on account of alleged excess ITC.

The show cause notice (SCN) dated 25 November 2024 fixed 25 December 2024 for reply but did not specify any date for personal hearing.

The petitioner claimed that the SCN was never served, as the company had shifted its business from Delhi to Maharashtra and the earlier domain-linked email had expired.

The department contended that the SCN, hearing notice, and order were uploaded on the GST portal and also sent via email and registered post; emails had bounced back.

The Court observed that since all communications were available on the GST portal, the department could not be blamed for lack of service.

The petitioner failed to prove that it was unaware of the notices; hence, no ground existed to remand the matter to the adjudicating authority.

However, the Court recognized that the petitioner had no effective hearing on merits and allowed it to file an appeal by 31 October 2025 with the required pre-deposit.

The Court directed that if the appeal is filed within the permitted time, it shall not be rejected on limitation grounds and must be decided on merits.

LINK: CA. Praveen Sharma on Linkedin

Regards

CAPS