Bombay HC imposed cost on Revenue for SCN issued & order passed without any application of mind

Case Details: Sheetal Dilip Jain v. State of Maharashtra - [2022] 143 taxmann.com 159 (Bombay)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • K.R. Shriram & A.S. Doctor, JJ.
  • Rahul C. Thakar & C.B. Thakar for the Petitioner.
  • Ms Jyoti Chavan, Himanshu Takke & Ms Anagha Prashant Kand, State Tax Officer for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

A SCN was issued by the GST department under Section 73 of the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. On the 8th day, order was passed against the petitioner. In the order, it was mentioned that the petitioner was directed to make payment within 30 days but no payment was made within 30 days of the issue of the notice. Therefore, on the basis of documents available with the department and information furnished by you, the demand has been created. The petitioner filed writ petition to challenge the notice and order.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that Section 73 allows a period of 30 days from issuance of the show-cause notice to make payment of such tax along with interest payable under Section 50. If he does not wish to make payment, then within the 30 day period he could file a reply to the show-cause notice.

However, in the show-cause notice only 7 days was given to reply to the notice and on the 8th day the impugned order came to be passed. Therefore, the question of not paying within 30 days of the issue of the notice would not arise. This statutory period can’t be arbitrarily reduced to 7 days by assessing officer.

Therefore, the order was passed without application of mind and the Court directed Revenue to pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- as donation to PM Cares Fund and copy of this order shall be forwarded to the CBIC and to the Chief Commissioner of State Tax, Maharashtra, so that they could at least hold some kind of training and/or orientation session/course, etc. to apprise and educate its officers on the prevailing law and rules.