The Telangana High Court has held that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Show cause notices and orders without proper officer’s signature cannot withstand judicial scrutiny.
The bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Renuka Yara observed that since Rule and prescribed Forms mandate requirement of signature of Proper Officer, its violation makes the notice/order vulnerable. Any contrary view taken by Court about DRC-07 having no signature without considering the above rule and prescribed Form must be held as per incuriam.
The petitioners/assessee have challenged the legality, validity and propriety of the show-cause notices and final orders which admittedly do not contain physical or digital signatures of the Proper Officer, although the impugned show-cause notices and final orders were placed on the portal.
The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) through its advisory dated 25.09.2024 clarified that the show-cause notices and orders are generated on the common portal through the officers’ login, which is accessed using the digital signature. These documents being computer generated upon the officers’ command do not require digital signature as they can only be issued by the officers by logging into the portal with their digital signatures. Thus, neither show-cause notices nor the orders can bear a stamp of invalidity in the absence of physical or digital signatures of the officers.
Despite repeated query from the Bench, it could not be pointed out whether this advisory has any statutory backing or at least can be called as an executive instruction issued under any enabling provision. Thus, at best, it is an internal communication between the Departmental Authorities.
Curiously, in the latter portion of this advisory also, it is clearly mentioned that the officers need to perform through digital signature authentication in relation to (i) issuance of notice, (ii) issuance of order and (iii) issuance of refund order. In view of the statutory requirement of putting signature on the notice and the order, this advisory will not improve the case of the respondents.
The court quashed the notices and orders and reserved the liberty to the department to issue fresh show cause notices/orders in accordance with law and, for undertaking this exercise afresh, the limitation will not be a hurdle for the respondents.
Case Details
Case Title: M/s. Bigleap Technologies and Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Versus The State of Telangana
Case No.: Writ Petition No. 21101 Of 2024
Date: 28-02-2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Karan Talwar
Counsel For Respondent: Swaroop Oorilla
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