Opportunity to Be Given to Assessee to Respond to SCN as He Was Unable to Access GSTN Portal | HC

Case Details: S. Sesappan v. Deputy State Tax Officer-2 - [2024] 167 taxmann.com 419 (Madras)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• Mohammed Shaffiq, J.
• A. Satheesh Murugan, for the Appellant.
• J.K. Jayaselan, Government Adv. for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioner was a work contractor and executed works contract for various Government authorities. The department issued notice to the petitioner for discrepancies between GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B which were treated as suppression of outward tax supply. The petitioner requested one final opportunity to put forth objections to tax proposal but the department did not accept request and passed the order. It filed writ petition against the order and submitted that it was unable to respond to the notices as it was not aware of the notices which were uploaded in the portal.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that the petitioner was unable to access the GSTIN portal and was unable to participate in the adjudication proceedings. It is a fact that with the introduction of GST, there were several technical glitches in the portal and the assessees were also taking time to adapt to the e-mechanism. Therefore, the Court held that the impugned order was to be set aside and the matter was to be remanded to pass fresh order and the petitioner shall be granted one final opportunity to put forth their objections before Adjudicating Authority.