Delay and Laches Defeat GST Writ Challenge: Punjab & Haryana High Court Refuses to Entertain Belated Petition Against Section 74 Order

Case Background

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in Kamal Ideal Infratech Private Limited Vs Union of India & Ors., was called upon to examine a writ petition seeking annulment of an order dated 07.11.2023 issued under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act). The petition also sought to quash the show cause notice dated 09.08.2023 issued in Form GST DRC-01, along with the earlier Form ASMT-10 dated 27.01.2023.

The assessee, a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013 and registered under both the CGST Act and the Haryana GST Act, operated in the construction and infrastructure sector. It claimed to have consistently met its GST compliance obligations, including timely return filing and tax payments. The assessee had availed Input Tax Credit (ITC) in October 2017 and cleared its output tax liability during March and April 2018.

Sequence of Proceedings

Trouble arose when Form ASMT-10 was issued on 27.01.2023, flagging alleged discrepancies in the ITC claimed. This was followed by a show cause notice dated 09.08.2023 under Section 74 of the CGST Act, alleging suppression of facts. The assessee claimed it remained unaware of these developments because it could not monitor electronic communications on the GST portal, attributing this lapse to the sudden illness of its accountant. It stated that only after hiring a full-time accountant in 2024 did it discover the pending proceedings and the adverse order.

Despite gaining this knowledge in 2024, the assessee approached the High Court by way of writ petition only in November 2025 — a gap of nearly two years.

Grounds Raised by the Assessee

The assessee's counsel argued that: