Matter to Be Remanded to Stage of SCN as Demand Was Dropped in Prior Year on Same Issue | HC

Case Details: Flemingo Dutyfree Shop (P.) Ltd. v. Deputy Commissioner of Revenue, Salt Lake Charge - [2024] 166 taxmann.com 333 (Calcutta)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• T.S. Sivagnanam, C.J. & Hiranmay Bhattacharyya
• Ankit Kanodia, Ms Megha Agarwal, Piyush Khaitan for the Appellant.
• Anirban Ray, Ld. GP, T.M. Siddique, Tanoy Chakraborty, S. Sanyal for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The appellant was aggrieved by the order passed under Section 73 and filed writ petition against the same. The learned Single Bench directed the appellant to file appeal before Appellate Authority under Section 107 of CGST Act, 2017. The appellant filed appeal against the order of Single Bench and contended that it should be given one more opportunity since the consultant could not take appropriate steps due to certain intervening circumstances and ex-parte order was passed.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that the appellant didn’t file any reply to the show cause notice and none appeared on behalf of the appellant on the date fixed for personal hearing. The Court also noted that the department had dropped demand in respect of earlier assessment year i.e. 2017-2018.

Therefore, the Court held that the matter was to be restored to stage of show cause notice with liberty to appellant to file reply within 15 days. The Court also directed the Adjudicating Authority to fix date for personal hearing and the appellant shall appear before the Authority either in person or through authorised representative.

List of Cases Referred to

• Radhasoami Satsang, Saomi Bagh, Agra v. CIT (1992) 1 SCC 659 (para 6).