HC Quashed Summons Issued u/s 70 Since Assessee Had Already Made Several Appearances Before Department

Case Details: Rakesh Janghu v. Union of India - [2023] 157 taxmann.com 12 (Punjab & Haryana)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • G.S. Sandhawalia & Ms Harpreet Kaur Jeewan, JJ.
  • Aditya Grover, Adv. for the Petitioner.
  • Sourabh Goel for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

In the present case, the assessee received summons from the GST department. It was alleged that the assessee was providing services to two medical colleges but no GST was charged on services provided by assessee. The assessee filed writ petition against the summons and prayed to conclude enquiry proceedings since he had been consistently appearing before the department and according to his knowledge and belief he was exempted from the provisions of GST.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that the assessee was aggrieved by issuance of summons under section 70 and he had already deposited Rs. 5 crores with department. Further, the assessee agreed to provide all documents to department and assessee had also made required appearances.

Therefore, the Court found that the purpose of summoning assessee for enquiry apparently stood satisfied. Thus, the Court held that no useful purpose would be served to call the assessee in pursuance of the summons hereafter. The Court also gave liberty to department to proceed in accordance with law regarding issuance of show cause notice if so required.