High Court · 2025

W.P.No.17073 of 2025IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRASDated : 04.06.2025CORAMTHE HON'BLE Mr. JUSTICE KRISHNAN RAMASAMYW.P.No.17073 of 2025& W.M.P.Nos.19358 & 19359 of 2025D J ENGINEERS Represented by its Proprietor Mr JEEVANANDHAMNo.64, Jupiter Street,Madhiyalagan Nagar, Padi, Chennai, Tamilnadu 600 050. ... Petitioner Vs. The Deputy State Tax Officer Formerly Known as The Deputy Commercial Tax OfficerPadi Assessment Circle, Room No. 418 4th Flor The Integrated Buildnig For Commercial Tax An Registration Department, South Towe,R Nandanam, Chennai 600 035. ... RespondentsPrayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records relating to the impugned order in Reference No. ZD3312232745796/2017-18 DATED 30.12.2023 passed by the Respondent and the consequential Order of rejection of application for rectification passed by the Respondent bearing in Reference No ZD331224260257M/2017-18 1/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.17073 of 2025Dated on 30.12.2024 passed by the Respondent, and quash the same as arbitrary, illegal For Petitioner : Mr.Panneerselvam KFor Respondent : Ms.K.Vasanthamala, GAORDERThis writ petition has been filed challenging the impugned order dated 30.12.2023 and the impugned rejection order dated 30.12.2024 passed by the respondent.2. Ms.K.Vasanthamala, learned Government Advocate, takes notice on behalf of the respondent. By consent of the parties, the main writ petition is taken up for disposal at the admission stage itself.3. The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that in this case, all notices/communications were uploaded by the respondent under the “View Additional Notices and Orders” column in the GST common portal. Since the petitioner was not aware of the said notices, they failed 2/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.17073 of 2025to file their reply within the time. Under these circumstances, the impugned order came to be passed by the respondent without providing any opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner. Aggrieved over the said order, a rectification application was filed by the petitioner, however, the same was rejected by the respondent vide impugned rejection order dated 30.12.2024. Therefore, this petition has been filed. 4. Further, he would submit that the petitioner is willing to pay 25% of the disputed tax amount, to the respondent. Hence, he requests this Court to grant an opportunity to the petitioner to present their case before the respondent by setting aside the impugned assessment order. 5. On the other hand, the learned Government Advocate appearing for the respondent would submit that the srespondent had uploaded the notices in the GST Online Portal. But the petitioner failed to avail the said opportunity. Further, she has fairly admitted that no opportunity of personal hearing was provided to the petitioner prior to the passing of impugned order. Therefore, she requested this Court to 3/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.17073 of 2025remit the matter back to the respondent, subject to the payment of 25% of the disputed tax amount by the petitioner.6. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and and the learned Government Advocate for the respondent and also perused the materials available on record. 7. In the case on hand, it is evident that the show cause notice and a reminder was uploaded on the GST Portal Tab. According to the petitioner, he was not aware of the issuance of the said show cause notice and the reminder notice, which were 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 W.P.No.17073 of 20258. 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. 9. 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 W.P.No.17073 of 2025Therefore, this Court finds that there is a lack of opportunities being provided to serve the notices/orders etc., effectively to the petitioner.10. Further, it was submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner is willing to pay 25% of the disputed tax amount to the respondent. In such view of the matter, this Court is inclined to set aside the impugned order dated 30.12.2023 passed by the respondent. Accordingly, this Court passes the following order:- (i) The impugned order dated 30.12.2023 is set aside and the matter is remanded to the respondent for fresh consideration on condition that the petitioner shall pay 25% of the disputed tax amount to the respondent within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. The setting aside of the impugned order will take effect from the date of payment of the said amount.(ii) The petitioner shall file their reply/objection along with the required documents, if any, within a period of three weeks from the date of payment of amount as stated above.6/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.17073 of 2025(iii) On filing of such reply/objection by the petitioner, the respondent shall consider the same and issue a 14 days clear notice, by fixing the date of personal hearing, to the petitioner and thereafter, pass appropriate orders on merits and in accordance with law, after hearing the petitioner, as expeditiously as possible. 11. With the above directions, this writ petition is disposed of. No costs. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petitions are also closed.04.06.2025Speaking/Non-speaking orderIndex : Yes / NoNeutral Citation : Yes / NonsaToThe Deputy State Tax Officer Formerly Known as The Deputy Commercial Tax OfficerPadi Assessment Circle, Room No. 418 4th Flor The Integrated Buildnig For Commercial Tax An Registration Department, South Towe,R Nandanam, Chennai 600 035. 7/8 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P.No.17073 of 2025KRISHNAN RAMASAMY.J.,nsaW.P.No.17073 of 2025& W.M.P.Nos.19358 & 19359 of 202504.06.20258/8