Taxpayers Must Be Vigilant About Communications On GST Portal, Department Can’t Be Blamed: Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has made it clear that if an assessee fails to respond to a show cause notice duly communicated to it on the GST portal, the Department cannot be blamed for passing an order raising demand, without hearing the assessee.
A division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta observed,
“Since the Petitioner has not been diligent in checking the portal, no reply to the Show Cause Notice has been filed by the Petitioner. Thus the department cannot be blamed.”
Petitioner, engaged in the business of Trading and manufacturing of plastic components, was aggrieved by a demand to the tune of ₹9,21,326, stated to be passed without hearing him.
It was contended that the Show Cause Notice was issued by the Respondent in the ‘additional notices and orders’ tab instead of the ‘notices and orders’ tab and thus is not a proper mode of service.
The Department however claimed that a reminder notice was also given to the Petitioner, which was clearly visible on the portal. Yet, no reply was filed by the Petitioner.
The Petitioner then submitted that his accountant was not accessing the portal as it was not working at that time and, therefore, the reply could not be filed.
At this juncture, the Department apprised the Court that automated e-mails and SMSs are also sent whenever anything is uploaded on the portal.
In view of the above, the High Court held that the Department cannot be blamed for Petitioner’s neglect. Nonetheless, it permitted the Petitioner to prefer an appeal assailing the impugned demand before the Appellate Authority.
Appearance: Mr. Rajeev Aggarwal and Mr. Shubham Goel, Advocates for Petitioner; Ms. Vaishali Gupta, Panel Counsel (Civil) GNCTD.
Case title: Sandeep Garg v. Sales Tax Officer Class Ii Avato Ward 66 Zone 4 Delhi
Case no.: W.P.(C) 5846/2025
