Single SCN Issued for Multiple Periods Under GST is Valid if It is Given at Least 6 Months Prior to Time Limit Specified in Section 74(10) | HC

Case Details: RioCare India (P.) Ltd. v. Assistant Commissioner CGST - [2025] 170 taxmann.com 605 (Bombay)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• B.P. Colabawalla & Firdosh P. Pooniwalla, JJ.
• Virendrasinh V. Tapkir, Adv. for the Petitioner.
• Subir Kumar & Ashita Aggarwal, Advs. for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioner is a company and it received a show cause notice cum demand order from the GST department. It filed writ petition to challenge the demand order and submitted that a common notice was issued for multiple assessment periods. It was contended that one show cause notice for the period from July, 2018 to March, 2023 was impermissible.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that there is nothing in Section 74 and more particularly 74(1) which would prohibit the Authority from issuing a notice calling upon the assessee to pay tax that has not been paid or short paid or erroneously refunded or where input tax credit has been wrongly availed or utilised, by reason of fraud, or any wilful misstatement or suppression of facts to evade tax.

Therefore, at least prima facie, a notice under Section 74(1) can be issued for any period provided the said notice is given at least 6 months prior to the time limit specified in sub-section (10) of Section 74 for issuance of the order. In the present case, admittedly there is no issue of limitation as contemplated under Section 74(10). Therefore, the Court held that the petition was liable to be dismissed as the notice was validly issued.