Facts of the Case

M/S Anish Traders, through its proprietor Anish Ahamad, challenged an order dated 05.08.2024 passed under Section 73 of the GST Act and a further order dated 21.07.2025 dismissing its appeal as time-barred. The petitioner's specific contention was that, as per a circular issued by the respondents themselves, the date of reply must necessarily precede the date fixed for personal hearing — a sequence that had not been followed in the petitioner's case.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether a Section 73 order can be sustained where the date fixed for reply comes after, rather than before, the date fixed for personal hearing, contrary to the department's own circular.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The circular issued by the respondents itself mandated that the reply date must precede the personal hearing date, which was not followed in this case.
  • The issue was covered by the ruling in Mahaveer Trading Company v. Deputy Commissioner, State Tax, Writ Tax No. 303 of 2024, decided 04.03.2024.

Respondent's Arguments

  • No specific rebuttal is recorded beyond the impugned orders themselves; the matter was decided on the sole procedural ground urged by the petitioner without serious contest.

Court Order / Findings

  • Following the ratio in Mahaveer Trading Company, the Court accepted that the sequencing defect — hearing before reply deadline — rendered the personal hearing an empty formality.
  • The Court quashed both the order dated 05.08.2024 passed under Section 73 and the order dated 21.07.2025 dismissing the appeal as time-barred, on the sole ground of this defective hearing sequence.
  • The matter was remanded to the assessing authority to pass a fresh order after affording a proper opportunity of hearing.
  • The writ petition was allowed.

Important Clarification

  • Departmental circulars prescribing that the reply date must precede the personal hearing date are treated as binding procedural safeguards; breach of this sequencing independently vitiates the resulting assessment order.
  • This forms part of the same cluster of Allahabad High Court rulings applying Mahaveer Trading Company to strike down defectively-sequenced Section 73/74 hearings across numerous similarly-placed taxpayers.

Sections Involved

  • Section 73, GST Act, 2017 – determination of tax not paid/short paid, no fraud alleged.
  • Section 75(4), GST Act, 2017 – mandatory opportunity of personal hearing.

Decision – In Favour of

The decision is in favour of the assessee, M/S Anish Traders — both the demand order and the time-barred appellate dismissal were quashed and the matter remanded for a fresh hearing.

Case Details

High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, Lucknow Bench (Court No. 6) – Writ Tax No. 760 of 2025 – Neutral Citation: 2025:AHC-LKO:46343 – Coram: Hon'ble Pankaj Bhatia, J. – Order dated 08.08.2025.

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