Allahabad High Court quashes GST demand where notices were placed under wrong GSTN portal tab

Background of the dispute

The matter in Bambino Agro Industries Ltd Vs State of U.P. and another (Allahabad High Court) concerns challenge to:

  • a show cause notice dated 25.09.2023, and
  • a consequential ex parte demand order dated 08.12.2023,

both issued by the Assistant Commissioner, State Tax, Sector-4, Ghaziabad under Section 73 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (the Act) for Financial Year 2017-18.

The assessee approached the High Court under its writ jurisdiction questioning the validity of these proceedings on the ground that the notices and orders were never properly communicated through the GSTN portal in the manner legislatively contemplated, resulting in denial of effective opportunity to contest the demand or pursue statutory remedies within limitation.

Core grievance: notices uploaded under wrong GSTN tab

How the notices were placed on the portal

The assessee asserted that:

  • The show cause notice under Section 73 and the resulting demand order were not visible under the “Due Notices and Orders” (often seen as “view notices and orders”) tab on the assessee’s GST portal.
  • Instead, they were uploaded only under the “Additional Notices and Orders” tab.

Because assessees normally track statutory notices and orders through the “Due Notices and Orders” section, the assessee maintained that it remained unaware of both:

  1. The initiation of proceedings under Section 73, and
  2. The passing of the ex parte demand order dated 08.12.2023.

Impact on the assessee’s right to defend

According to the assessee, this technical placement of the notices on a different tab had serious practical consequences:

  • The assessee could not appear before the Assessing Authority during the adjudication stage.
  • The assessee missed the limitation period to challenge the demand order through the statutory appellate mechanism because it did not have knowledge of the order in time.

Thus, the alleged non-communication, in functional terms, amounted to violation of principles of natural justice and denial of the right to appeal.

Reliance on earlier precedent: Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Prior ruling with identical issue

The assessee relied heavily on the earlier decision of the same Court in:

Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. State of U.P. & 2 others, Writ Tax No. 855 of 2024, decided on 22.07.2024

In that case, the High Court had faced a similar situation where:

  • The impugned order did not appear under the “view notices and orders” tab on the assessee’s portal,
  • Rather, it was visible only under the “additional notice and orders” tab,

and the assessee thus failed to contest or appeal against the order within time.

Court’s discussion in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

The coordinate Bench in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. had recorded, inter alia, the following aspects: