HC Sets Aside Ex-Parte Order Over ITC Dispute for Fresh Adjudication

Case Details: Raiganj Jeevan Rekha Diagnostic (P.) Ltd. vs. Union of India - [2025] 176 taxmann.com 429 (Calcutta)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• T.S. Sivagnanam, CJ. & Bivas Pattanayak, JJ.
• Himangshu Kr. Ray, Ms Shiwani Shaw, Sushant Bagaria, Animitra Roy, Anish Mondal & Piyash Chowdhury for the Appellant.
• Bhaskar Prasad Banerjee, Tapan Bhanja & Ms Indrani Chakraborty for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The assessee was served with a show-cause notice (SCN) for wrongly availing Input Tax Credit (ITC). The notice was served via email, but the assessee did not respond to it. Consequently, the ex parte order was passed by the adjudicating authority (AA).In appeal, the assessee contended that they had filed GSTR-3B and produced a tabulated statement showing how wrongly availed ITC had been reversed. However, the appellate authority stated that the assessee failed to submit GSTR-3B for a particular month and confirmed the order. Assessee filed a writ petition before the Calcutta High Court.

High Court Held

The Calcutta High Court held that the appellate authority confirmed the order based on the assessee’s failure to submit GSTR-3B for a particular month. There appeared to be a factual dispute, which needed to be sorted out, and that could be done if the assessee was given one more opportunity to reconcile the defect, which had been pointed out. Thus, the matter was to be remanded for fresh adjudication.