Madras High Court
Vamana Engineering Company vs The Assistant Commissioner (St) on 3 June, 2025
Author: Krishnan Ramasamy
Bench: Krishnan Ramasamy
W.P.No.17179 of 2025
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
Dated : 03.06.2025
CORAM
THE HON'BLE Mr. JUSTICE KRISHNAN RAMASAMY
W.P.No.17179 of 2025
& W.M.P.Nos.19468 & 19469 of 2025
Vamana Engineering Company,
Rep. by its Partner,
Mr.Silambarasan,
No.314, Varasakthi Vinayakar Koil Street,
Vanagaram, Chennai - 600 094. ... Petitioner
Vs.
The Assistant Commissioner (ST),
Vanagaram Assessment Circle,
Office of the Commercial Taxes Department,
No.4/109, 2nd Floor, Nazarathpettai,
Chennai - 600 123. ... Respondent
Prayer:
Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India
praying to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the
records of the respondent relating to the impugned order dated
06.08.2024, bearing Reference No.ZD330824046213N passed under
Section 73 of the TNGST/CGST Act for the financial year 2019-2020
and quash the same as arbitrary, illegal and violative of principles of
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W.P.No.17179 of 2025
natural justice and consequently direct the respondent to drop all
proceedings initiated thereunder.
For Petitioner : Mr.S.Karunamoorthy
For Respondent : Mr.V.Prashanth Kiran,
Government Advocate (T)
ORDER
Mr.V.Prashanth Kiran, learned Government Advocate (Taxes), takes notice on behalf of the respondent. With consent, the main Writ Petition is taken up for final disposal at the stage of admission itself.
2. The challenge in this Writ Petition is to the order dated 06.08.2024 passed by the respondent for the AY 2019-20 and to quash the same and also consequential direction to the respondent to drop all proceedings initiated thereunder.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that the respondent has issued a show cause notice on 15.05.2024, by uploading the same in the GST portal. Since the petitioner's GST number was 2/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis ( Uploaded on: 09/06/2025 06:05:42 pm ) W.P.No.17179 of 2025 suspended, the petitioner could not login to the GST portal. Therefore, the petitioner was not aware of the show cause notice and failed to submit its reply. Since the petitioner failed to file reply to the said show cause notice, the respondent has confirmed the proposals contained in the show cause notice and passed the present impugned order. Therefore, the learned counsel would submit that the impugned order suffers from violation of principles of natural justice and is liable to be aside, as the petitioner has not been heard before passing the impugned order.
3.1. It is also submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner is ready and willing to deposit 25% of the disputed tax, in the event, this Court is inclined to set aside the impugned order and remand the matter back to the Authority for fresh consideration. He would further submit that there is bank attachment and the same may be lifted, subject to the payment of 25% of the disputed tax. Hence, he prayed for appropriate directions.
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4. The learned Government Advocate (Taxes) for the respondent fairly submitted that since the petitioner has voluntarily come forward to deposit 25% of the disputed tax, the prayer sought for by the petitioner may be considered.
5. Considering the above submissions made by the learned counsel on either side and upon perusal of the materials, it is evident that the impugned show cause notice was uploaded on the GST Portal Tab and as the GST number of the petitioner was suspended, he could not login to the GST portal. According to the petitioner, the petitioner was not aware of the issuance of the show cause notice issued through the GST Portal and the original of the said show cause notice was not furnished to them. In such circumstances, this Court is of the view that the impugned assessment order came to be passed without affording any opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner, confirming the proposals contained in the show cause notice. 4/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis ( Uploaded on: 09/06/2025 06:05:42 pm ) W.P.No.17179 of 2025
6. No doubt sending notice by uploading in portal is a sufficient service, but, the Officer who is sending the repeated reminders, inspite of the fact that no response from the petitioner to the show cause notices etc., the Officer should have applied his/her mind and explored the possibility of sending notices by way of other modes prescribed in Section 169 of the GST Act, which are also the valid mode of service under the Act, otherwise it will not be an effective service, rather, it would only fulfilling the empty formalities. Merely passing an ex parte order by fulfilling the empty formalities will not serve any useful purpose and the same will only pave way for multiplicity of litigations, not only wasting the time of the Officer concerned, but also the precious time of the Appellate Authority/Tribunal and this Court as well. Thus, when there is no response from the tax payer to the notice sent through a particular mode, the Officer who is issuing notices should strictly explore the possibilities of sending notices through some other mode as prescribed in Section 169(1) of the Act, preferably by way of RPAD, which would ultimately achieve the object of the GST Act. 5/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis ( Uploaded on: 09/06/2025 06:05:42 pm ) W.P.No.17179 of 2025
7. Therefore, this Court finds that there is a lack of opportunities being provided to serve the notices/orders etc., effectively to the petitioner. Hence, this Court is inclined to set-aside the impugned order with terms, by issuing the following directions:-
i) The impugned order passed by the respondent dated 06.08.2024 is set aside.
ii) Consequently, the matter is remanded to the respondent for fresh consideration.
iii) The petitioner is granted liberty to deposit 25% of the disputed tax, which the petitioner themselves had voluntarily came forward to make such payment, within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
iv) Thereafter, the petitioner is directed to file a reply along with 6/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis ( Uploaded on: 09/06/2025 06:05:42 pm ) W.P.No.17179 of 2025 supportive documents within a period of two weeks.
v) Thereupon, the respondent is directed to consider the reply and shall issue a clear 14 days notice affording an opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner and shall decide the matter in accordance with law.
8. With the above observations & directions, this Writ Petition is disposed of. No costs. Consequently, connected Miscellaneous Petitions are closed.
03.06.2025 Speaking/Non-speaking order Index : Yes / No Neutral Citation : Yes / No arr 7/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis ( Uploaded on: 09/06/2025 06:05:42 pm ) W.P.No.17179 of 2025 KRISHNAN RAMASAMY.J., arr To The Assistant Commissioner (ST), Vanagaram Assessment Circle, Office of the Commercial Taxes Department, No.4/109, 2nd Floor, Nazarathpettai, Chennai - 600 123.
W.P.No.17179 of 2025
and W.M.P.Nos.19468 & 19469 of 2025 03.06.2025 8/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis ( Uploaded on: 09/06/2025 06:05:42 pm )