HC set aside assessment orders related to tax periods for which SCNs were not issued

Case Details: OPC Assets Solutions (P.) Ltd. v. State of Tripura - [2022] 141 taxmann.com 177 (TRIPURA)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Akil Kureshi, CJ. & S.G. Chattopadhyay, J.
  • B.L. Narsimhan, T.K. Deb, N. Pal, R. Tangri & V. Jain, Advs. for the Appellant.
  • Debalay Bhattacharjee, G.A. & K. De, Addl. G.A. for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The Superintendent issued a show-cause notice (SCN) to the petitioner for recovery of unpaid tax and penalty for financial year 2018-19. It replied to SCN and the Superintendent issued the order of cancellation of registration of the petitioner and also issued separate orders confirming the tax and penalty demands against the petitioner for the tax periods 2017-18 till 2020-21. It filed writ petition and submitted that SCNs were not issued for tax periods except financial year 2018-19.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court observed that the Superintendent of Taxes passed five separate orders for different tax periods starting with 2017-18 to 2020-21 raising tax demands with penalty although SCN was issued for assessment and penalty only for assessment period 2018-19. Moreover, the officer contended that once notice was issued for a particular tax period, no notice was necessary for other tax periods stems from utter ignorance of law. In the instant case, the principles of natural justice were violated and this fundamental breach was sufficient to vitiate orders of assessment.