The Madhya Pradesh High Court in its recent order in the case of M/s Shri Shyam Baba Edible Oils has quashed the demand order as a foundational show-cause notice of the financial year and tax period was not uploaded on website and thus not communicated to the petitioner.
Facts of the case:
- The grievance of the petitioner, M/s Shri Shyam Baba Edible Oils is that while raising the demand of tax the foundational show-cause notice/order qua the financial year 2018-2019 and tax period April 2018 to March 2019, was never communicated to the petitioner who is an individual registered under GST Act.
- The petitioner has highlighted the provision of Rule 142(1) of CGST Act to contend that the said provision statutorily obliges the revenue department to communicate show-cause notice/order by uploading the same on the website of revenue so that the aggrieved person can have access to the same and be aware of reasons behind the demand to enable the aggrieved person to avail alternative remedy before the higher forum under CGST Act.
Order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court: Deliberations and Ruling
- A bare perusal of the of Rule 142 of the CGST Rules reveals that the only mode prescribed for communicating the show-cause notice/order is by way of uploading the same on website of the revenue.
- The State in its reply has provided no material to show that show-cause notice/order was uploaded on website of revenue. In fact, AAG, fairly concedes that the show-cause notice/order was communicated to petitioner by Email and was not uploaded on website of the revenue.
- It is trite principle of law that when a particular procedure is prescribed to perform a particular act then all other procedures/modes except the one prescribed are excluded. This principle becomes all the more stringent when statutorily prescribed as is the case herein.
In view of above deliberations, the division bench of Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Rajeev Kumar Shrivastava while allowing the petition held that statutory procedure prescribed for communicating show-cause notice/order under Rule 142(1) of CGST Act having not been followed by the revenue, the impugned demand pertaining to the financial year 2018-2019 and tax period April 2018 to March 2019 deserves to be and is struck down.
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Frah Saeed is a law graduate specializing in the core field of indirect taxes and is the Co-founder of taxwallah.com. She has authored many publications on GST and is into full-time consultancy on GST to big corporates. She as a part of taxwallah.com heads a team comprising of Chartered Accountants and Advocates and plays a key role in our mission to disseminate GST knowledge to all.
