The Gauhati High Court has set aside a GST demand order after finding that tax authorities issued only a summary of a Show Cause Notice (SCN) without attaching a proper, signed notice or fixing a hearing date. The Court held that such action violated both the GST Act and principles of natural justice.
The bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi has observed that a summary in Form GST DRC-01 cannot replace a full SCN required under Section 73 of the GST Act. Unsigned documents are invalid under Rule 26(3) of the CGST Rules, 2017. Personal hearing is mandatory when an adverse decision is contemplated, as per Section 75(4).
The controversy began when the State Tax Department issued a summary SCN in December 2023 for the tax period April 2018–March 2019. Since no detailed SCN was provided on the GST portal, the assessee did not file a reply. Later, in April 2024, an order in Form GST DRC-07 was passed, citing failure to make payment within 30 days.
However, the attachments uploaded along with the summary were unsigned and unauthenticated, and crucially, the column for date and time of hearing was left blank. This meant the taxpayer had no opportunity to present their case before an adverse order was passed.
The Court quashed the April 2024 order but allowed the department liberty to start fresh proceedings de novo under Section 73, excluding the defective period from limitation calculations.
Case Details
Case Title: Soidur Rahman Versus The State Of Assam
Case No.: Case No. : WP(C)/4999/2025
Date: 05.09.2025
Counsel For Petitioner: R.S. Mishra, Advocate
Counsel For Respondent: B. Gogoi, SC, Finance & Taxation Department.
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