SCN Visibility Under ‘Additional Notices & Orders’ Tab Delays Taxpayer’s Response; Delhi High Court Permits Re-Filing by August 31

No wonder technical glitches on the tax portals are not new, and the judiciary has to intervene time and again to aid the bona fide taxpayers. On a similar path, the Delhi High Court recently ascribed to the difficulty faced by an electrical product wholesaler (petitioner) who did not get a proper opportunity of hearing by filing an effective reply to the show cause notice (SCN), and remanded the matter back to the Adjudicating Authority to consider the same before passing any order.

Though changes have been made to the GST portal, and the ‘Additional Notices Tab’ has been made visible after January 16, 2024, however, finding that the SCN in the present case was issued only on December 13, 2023, and the same was not brought to the notice of the Petitioner, the Court allowed the Petitioner to re-file the reply to SCN till August 31, 2025, which has to be communicated by the Adjudicating Authority on the mobile as well as the e-mail address of the Petitioner.

The Division Bench comprising Justice Pratibha M. Singh and Justice Shail Jain referred to the decision in the case of Neelgiri Machinery through its Proprietor, Mr. Anil Kumar vs Commissioner Delhi Goods And Service Tax And Others [W.P.(C) 13727/2024], whereunder identical circumstances of uploading of SCN on ‘Additional Notices Tab’, this Court had cancelled the demand orders finding that the petitioner did not had the access of the Notices as they were projected on the GST Portal under the tab ‘Additional Notices & Orders’. It was later admitted by the Revenue’s counsel therein that the said issue was addressed and the ‘Additional Notices & Orders’ tab was placed under the general menu and adjacent to the tab ‘Notices & Orders’.

The observation came in reference to the order passed by the Sales Tax Officer without considering the reply to the SCN filed by the taxpayer, which was filed one day before the passing of the said order. The reasons stated by the petitioner for such time in filing were that the SCN as well as the reminder notice, were uploaded on the ‘Additional Notices Tab’.

Case Relied On:

Neelgiri Machinery through its Proprietor, Mr. Anil Kumar vs Commissioner Delhi Goods And Service Tax And Others – W.P.(C) 13727/2024

Appearances:

Advocates S Jaikumar, Kartik Jindal, Palak Gupta, and Supriya Udey, for the Petitioner

NA, for the Respondent