GST Update

 Desk of CA. Praveen Sharma – 1102  Series (CAPS) 

Madras High Court IN THE CASE OF  The State Tax Officer v. M/s Sree Amman Traders & connected matters

GST Cross-Empowerment: Section 6 Notification Imposes Conditions; Its Absence Does Not Disable Powers

Outcome: In favour of Revenue/Appellants in the remaining appeals; Sree Amman Traders’ appeal was closed separately.

Batch of appeals: The Court considered 22 appeals—16 by State GST authorities and six by Central authorities.

Earlier ruling: The writ court had quashed summons and assessments for absence of a cross-empowerment notification.

Statutory authority: Section 6 itself authorises cross-empowerment under the corresponding GST enactments.

Notification’s purpose: A notification imposes conditions on existing powers; it does not create those powers.

Non-issuance: Absence of a notification cannot make Section 6 ineffective or indefinitely inoperative.

Binding precedent: The Court followed Armour Security (India) Ltd., Supreme Court, and the CBIC clarification dated 22 June 2020.

Intelligence-based enforcement: Either administration may act, despite allocation of the taxpayer to the other.

Audit and scrutiny: Actions arising from audits or detailed return scrutiny belong to the assigned administration.

Parallel proceedings: Section 6(2)(b) protects against proceedings on the same subject matter by both administrations.

Final disposal: Remaining appeals were allowed and matters remanded. Sree Amman Traders’ appeal was closed because its requested relief had already been granted.

LINK:CA. Praveen Sharma on Linkedin

Regards
CAPS