GST Update

 Desk of CA. Praveen Sharma – 942 Series (CAPS) 

The Uttarakhand High Court in the case of Raj Shekhar Pandey has delivered an important ruling on service of notice and principles of natural justice under GST law.

The petitioner challenged an order dated 13.01.2025 and the related show-cause notice dated 16.11.2024. The main issue was that the proceedings were initiated after the petitioner had already surrendered and cancelled his GST registration on 29.04.2023. The petitioner argued that once the registration was cancelled, he was not expected to regularly monitor the GST portal. Therefore, merely uploading the notice on the portal could not be treated as valid service.

The petitioner relied on judgments of the Allahabad High Court, which had held that service exclusively through the portal, after cancellation of registration, is not proper service under Section 169 of the CGST Act. Section 169 provides multiple modes of service, such as registered post, email, or physical delivery, and portal upload alone cannot be treated as the only valid mode in such circumstances.

The Court also observed that no personal hearing was granted as required under Section 75(4). This was held to be a violation of the principles of natural justice, particularly the rule of audi alteram partem.

Accordingly, the High Court quashed the impugned order dated 13.01.2025 and granted liberty to the Department to issue a fresh notice and adjudicate the matter afresh in accordance with law. The petitioner has been given two weeks to file a reply, and the Department must provide a proper personal hearing before passing any fresh order.

LINK:CA. Praveen Sharma on Linkedin

Regards
CAPS