Taxpayer reply cannot be considered non-satisfactory if GST officer did not seek any further details or documents from him: Order set aside by High Court 

Petitioner impugns order imposing demand of Rs. 3,09,18,988.00 including penalty raised against the petitioner. The order has been passed under Section 73 of the CGST Act.

Learned counsel for Petitioner submits that a detailed reply was filed to the Show Cause Notice, however, the impugned order does not take into consideration the reply submitted by the petitioner and is a cryptic order.

The impugned order, however, after recording the narration, records that the reply uploaded by the taxpayer is not satisfactory. It merely states that “And whereas, in response to the DRC-01, the Taxpayer submitted his reply in Form DRC-06. The reply of the registered person as well as data available on GST Portal have been checked / examined and the submission of the Taxpayer was not found satisfactory.” The Proper Officer has opined that the reply is unsatisfactory.

The observation in the impugned order is not sustainable for the reasons that the reply filed by the petitioner is a detailed reply. Proper Officer had to at least consider the reply on merits and then form an opinion whether the reply was not satisfactory. He merely held that the reply is not satisfactory which ex- facie shows that Proper Officer has not applied his mind to the reply submitted by the petitioner.

:

Principle of Natural Justice

:

Demand and Penalty

taxreply.com © 2024. All Rights Reserved