The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has held that mere uploading notice on GST portal is not a proper service.
The bench of Justice K.Kumaresh Babu has observed that Section 169 of the GST Act mandated a notice in person or by registered post or to the registered e-mail ID alternatively and on a failure or impracticability of adopting any of the aforesaid modes, then the State can, in addition, make a publication of such notices/ summons/ orders in the portal/ newspaper through the concerned officials.
Most of the petitioners are not well aware about the portal of the Department and due to unawareness of the information technology, they had relied upon the practitioners for filing their returns in the portal of the Department. The practitioners have uploaded their phone numbers and e-mail IDs for receipt of alerts and that in most of the cases, the practitioners have not informed the assesses either the update in the portal or the receipt of the e-mails which have kept the assesses in dark.
The issue raised in all the Writ Petitions was with regard to compliance of Section 169 of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act 2017.
Section 169 (1) of the GST Act should be read in such a manner that it effectively complies with the principles of natural justice. A reading of the same, which does not effectively comply with the principles, would only be a disadvantage to the assesses.
The court set aside the orders of assessment. The respective petitioners shall file their replies to the show cause notices, based upon which, the impugned assessment had been made, on or before 31.01.2025 and, the respective department shall afford an opportunity of hearing to the respective petitioners as provided under law and pass appropriate orders on merits and in accordance with law.
Case Details
Case Title: Mr. Sahulhameed Versus The Commercial Tax Officer
Case No.: W.P.(MD)Nos.26481, 25801, 25855, 25979, 25773, 25952, 27362, 27363, 27357 to 27361 27869 & 27190 of 2024
Date: 06.01.2025
Counsel For Petitioner: M.Iniyavan
Counsel For Respondent: R.Suresh Kumar
