Facts of the Case

The petitioner, M/s Diesel Power Generators, challenged an order dated 22.03.2024 passed by the Commercial/State Tax Officer, Ghaziabad, under Section 73 of the CGST/UPGST Act, 2017, creating a tax demand for financial year 2018-19. The petitioner's grievance was that the Section 73 notices and the impugned order were uploaded on the "Additional Notices and Orders" tab of the GST portal instead of the "Due/View Notices and Orders" tab, where a taxpayer would ordinarily look. As a result, the petitioner remained unaware of the proceedings and could neither respond to the notice nor challenge the order within the limitation period, learning of it only later.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether uploading a Section 73 notice and order on the "Additional Notices and Orders" tab rather than the principal notices tab amounts to inadequate communication.
  2. Whether such a defect vitiates the resultant demand order and its limitation consequences.
  3. What consequential directions follow once the order is set aside on this ground.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The notice and order were placed under a portal tab that an ordinary registered person does not routinely check, effectively denying communication.
  • This deprived the petitioner of any real opportunity to reply or to challenge the order in time.
  • The identical portal-design defect was already considered and remedied by a coordinate Bench in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. State of U.P. (Writ Tax No. 855 of 2024), which held the assessee entitled to the benefit of doubt in such circumstances.

Respondent's Arguments

  • The Standing Counsel for the State did not dispute that the notice and order were uploaded on the "Additional Notices and Orders" tab instead of the main tab.
  • It was fairly conceded that the facts were squarely covered by the Ola Fleet Technologies decision, leaving no independent ground to sustain the order.

Court Order / Findings

  • The Division Bench noted that in Ola Fleet Technologies it had earlier held that where the GST portal's own architecture places an order under the wrong tab, the assessee deserves the benefit of doubt since neither the assessee nor the assessing officer controls how the portal displays documents.
  • Applying this precedent, the Court allowed the writ petition, quashing and setting aside the Section 73 order dated 22.03.2024 in its entirety.
  • The Assessing Officer was directed to issue a fresh notice with at least fifteen clear days to the petitioner in the manner prescribed by law, and to proceed further only on that basis.

Important Clarification

  • Where the GST portal itself places show cause notices or orders under "Additional Notices and Orders" instead of the primary notices tab, courts extend the benefit of doubt to the assessee since this is a systemic portal-design issue attributable to GSTN, not to any party.
  • Such technical service defects justify quashing the order and issuing a fresh notice with adequate clear days, rather than relegating the assessee to a now time-barred statutory appeal.

Sections Involved

  • Section 73, CGST/UPGST Act, 2017 – demand and recovery of tax not paid, other than fraud cases.
  • GST common portal notice-service architecture under Rule 142, CGST Rules, 2017 – governs upload of notices and orders to the assessee's dashboard.

Decision – In Favour of

In favour of the assessee — the writ petition was allowed and the impugned demand order quashed in full, with a fresh notice directed.

Case Details

High Court of Judicature at Allahabad; WRIT TAX No. 3757 of 2025; Coram: Hon'ble Shekhar B. Saraf, J. and Hon'ble Praveen Kumar Giri, J.; Date: 11.08.2025.

Link to Download the Order

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