The Karnataka High Court has set aside two GST adjudication orders against a taxpayer on grounds of inadequate notice, directing the Commercial Tax Department to ensure a verifiable system for email delivery in future proceedings.
The bench of Justice Suraj Govindaraj observed that the impugned orders—one dated September 13, 2024, by the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit) and the other dated January 11, 2025, by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes—had been passed without the petitioner being afforded a fair opportunity to be heard.
The case arose when M/s Muni Naga Reddy HUF challenged the said adjudication orders under Section 73 of the CGST Act, 2017, pertaining to the financial year 2020–21. The petitioner contended that they had not received any prior notice of the proceedings.
The department argued that notices had been served via email on November 29, 2024, with a reminder sent on December 30, 2024. However, the court took critical note of the fact that no system existed within the department to track whether such emails were successfully delivered, opened, or read.
“This is a case where though e-mail is claimed to have been sent by Revenue, the petitioner contends that the e-mail has not been received. It would therefore be required for the respondents to establish a system to ascertain delivery of e-mail notices,” the court noted in its oral order.
The Court quashed the orders passed by the respondents. The matter was remanded to the jurisdictional officer for fresh consideration. The petitioner was directed to appear before the Assistant Commissioner on August 4, 2025, at 2:30 PM, without the need for a fresh notice. The department was instructed to ensure compliance with the court’s direction to implement a reliable email delivery system, and the matter was re-listed for compliance on August 22, 2025.
Case Details
Case Title: M/S Muni Naga Reddy Huf Versus The Assistant Commissioner Of Commercial Taxes
Case No.: Writ Petition No. 12543 Of 2025 (T-Res)
Date: 16/07/2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Nagabushana M
Counsel For Respondent: K. Hemakumar
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