Calcutta HC Refuses to Cancel GST Order Against Assessee, Issued in Covid Time

As the assessee’s non-appearance was judged to be dishonest, the Calcutta High Court recently rejected to quash and set aside the judgment reached by the Additional Commissioner, Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), and Central Excise against the assessee.

In response to the Show Cause Notice issued against the assessee according to Section 73 of the Finance Act of 1994 read with Section 174(2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act of 2017, the petitioner filed an appeal with the Calcutta High Court.

The petitioner’s attorneys, Jagriti Mishra, Subrata Pal, Unus Ali, Subham Gupta, Debayan Goswami, and Ananya Bhattacharya, strictly enforced the show cause-cum demand notice’s time limit, arguing that because the Corona Pandemic was at its peak at the time, it was impossible for the petitioner to gather all necessary documents and submit the reply to the show cause notice within that window of time.

The reply to show cause was sent on August 26, 2021. Following the submission of the show cause, the petitioner was requested to attend the hearing in person. Additionally, he was claimed to have a variety of comorbid ailments and avoided travelling throughout the pandemic, thus he was unable to capitalize on the opportunity.

The petitioner claims that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) judgment in question was made ex parte. He sought that the case is returned to the authority for a merits review because he was unable to take advantage of the opportunity for a hearing that had been granted to him.

On the opposite side, the respondent-revenue stated that “Neither did the petitioner file appeal within the time prescribed in Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act” and that “repeated opportunities were given to the petitioner for production of documents. Upon consideration of the submission of the petitioner, the arrangement was made for a personal hearing on virtual mode.”

Ratan Banik, Shankar Sarkar, and Bedashruti Bose, representatives for the revenue and the state, said that the petitioner was entitled to up to six virtual hearings and that the matter shouldn’t be brought up for reconsideration at such a late hour.

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It was observed by the Calcutta High court that “The Corona Pandemic substantially ebbed in the year 2021 and as the opportunity was given for virtual hearing, the petitioner ought to have availed the same.”

Single Bench of Justice Amrita Sinha sees that “The conduct of the petitioner does not appear to be a bona fide one. At such a belated point of time, the Court is of the opinion that the matter is not required to be remanded back to the authority for reconsideration.”

The writ petition was rejected as a result of the aforementioned finding.