Writ Petition Praying for SCN to Be Issued Electronically to Be Dismissed as Department Wasn’t Prevented from Issuing SCN by Email | HC

Case Details: Shashank Garg v. Additional Commissioner (Anti-Evasion), Central Goods and Service Tax Commissionerate, Panchkula - [2024] 165 taxmann.com 353 (Punjab & Haryana)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• Sanjeev Prakash Sharma & Sanjay Vashisth, JJ.
• Alok Mittal, Adv. for the petitioner.
• Sourabh Goel, Sr. Standing Counsel, Geetika Sharma, & Ms Anju Bansal, Advs. for the respondent.

Facts of the Case

In the present case, the assessee was before the High Court on the third round of litigation with respect to the same cause of action. Firstly, he preferred one writ petition against the show cause notice issued with respect to the same aspect which was pending consideration. Thereafter, the petition was dismissed but he filed appeal before the Supreme Court which was also dismissed by Court and he was granted liberty to submit reply to SCN.

However, the petitioner filed instant writ petition and prayed for SCN to be issued electronically and further submitted that he may be allowed to file reply electronically alone. The department submitted that there was no prevention from issuing SCN by E-mail and the petitioner was not prevented from filing reply to the show cause notice through e-mail.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that the provisions of law cannot be allowed to be twisted for the convenience of persons, who have been found to be prima facie utilizing the fraudulent ITCs. The Court also noted that if the present argument was to be taken, the same could have been examined by the Apex Court and even the Supreme Court had directed the petitioner to file his reply, which he had not chosen to do and preferred the present writ petition. Therefore, the Court held that the filing of present writ petition was a gross abuse to the process of law and liable to be dismissed.