Kerala High Court Upholds GST Portal-Based Notice as Valid Service Under Law
Kerala HC dismisses plea citing statutory compliance and binding precedent
The Kerala High Court has ruled that uploading a notice on the GST common portal constitutes valid service under Section 169 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, thereby dismissing a writ petition challenging a GST demand order.
The bench of Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A. has observed that Section 169 of the SGST/CGST Act, contemplates various methods for the same. Section 169(1)(d) contemplates for service of notice by way of making it available in the common portal. Since the statute recognizes any one of the modes as referred to in Section 169(1) as the proper service of notice, the effective service through any one of the modes would amount to sufficient notice for initiating or continuing proceedings under the Act.
The petitioner had challenged an order issued under Section 73 of the CGST/SGST Act, arguing that the notice was not properly served, as it was only uploaded to the GST portal and not delivered via other methods prescribed under Section 169(1)(a)-(c) of the GST Act. Counsel for the petitioner contended that this amounted to a violation of natural justice.
However, the Court noted that Section 169(1)(d) of the GST Act expressly recognizes portal-based service as one of the legally acceptable modes. Referring to the Division Bench judgment in W.A. No. 938/2024 (Sunil Kumar K. v. State Tax Officer - I, Kottarakkara), Justice Rahman held that such portal-based service constitutes sufficient notice.
“In light of the precedent and the statutory provisions, I do not find any justifiable reasons to entertain this writ petition,” the judge ruled, dismissing the case while allowing the petitioner to pursue alternate statutory remedies if available.
Case Details
Case Title: T.K Navas Versus Commissioner Of Goods And Service Taxes
Case No.: WP(C) No. 20976 Of 2025
Date: 9/06/2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Moosa E.S.
Counsel For Respondent: P.R Sreejith
Mariya is the Senior Editor at JurisHour. She has 5+ years of experience on covering tax litigation stories from the Supreme Court, High Courts and various tribunals including CESTAT, ITAT, NCLAT, NCLT, etc. Mariya graduated from MLSU Law College, Udaipur (Raj.) with B.A.LL.B. and also holds an LL.M. She started as a freelance tax reporter in the leading online legal news companies like LiveLaw & Taxscan.
