Facts of the Case

Vinod Kumar Mishra challenged an order dated December 26, 2023 passed by the Deputy Commissioner, State Tax, Sector-7, Prayagraj, under Section 73 of the GST Act, raising a demand for FY 2017-2018. The petitioner's grievance was that the Section 73 notices had been uploaded only on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab of the GST portal, rather than the primary 'View Notices and Orders' tab, leaving him unaware of the proceedings and unable to contest the demand within the limitation period — a portal-design issue already examined at length by a coordinate Bench in Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. State of U.P.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether a GST notice uploaded solely on the portal's 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab, instead of the main notices tab, amounts to adequate service given the petitioner's lack of awareness.
  2. Whether the assessing officer or the GST Network is responsible for such tab-placement errors, and whether that affects the taxpayer's entitlement to relief.
  3. Whether the order should be quashed and treated as the final notice, with a fresh opportunity to reply and a reasoned order thereafter.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The petitioner submitted that the notices issued under Section 73 were uploaded on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' Tab of the GST portal, as evidenced by the annexed screenshots, and that he consequently could neither appear before the authority nor challenge the validity of the order within the limitation period.
  • Reliance was placed on Ola Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. v. State of U.P. (Writ Tax No.855 of 2024, decided 22.7.2024), where an identical tab-placement defect had led the Court to grant the benefit of the doubt to the taxpayer and remand the matter.

Respondent's Arguments

  • The learned counsel for the Department, based on the material available on record, did not dispute the contention regarding uploading of the notices on the 'Additional Notices and Orders' Tab, and conceded that the issue was covered by the Ola Fleet Technologies judgment.

Court Order / Findings

  • The Court reproduced its earlier reasoning in Ola Fleet Technologies, which had noted that assessing officers have no option or choice on the web portal to control which tab a notice appears under for the assessee — a systemic GST Network design issue rather than officer fault — and had accordingly extended the benefit of the doubt to the taxpayer, treating the impugned order as the final notice and directing a fresh, properly-noticed adjudication.
  • Since the Department did not dispute that the present case was on all fours with Ola Fleet Technologies, the Court allowed the writ petition and quashed and set aside the order dated December 26, 2023 passed under Section 73 of the GST Act.
  • The Assessing Officer was directed to issue a fresh notice with at least 15 days' clear notice in the prescribed manner, and to proceed with further adjudication based on that notice, in accordance with law.

Important Clarification

  • A GST notice appearing only under the 'Additional Notices and Orders' tab, rather than the primary notices tab, continues to be treated by the Allahabad High Court as a genuine and recognised portal-design defect warranting the taxpayer the benefit of the doubt — not a fault attributable to either the assessee or, necessarily, the assessing officer.
  • Following Ola Fleet Technologies, such defective-tab orders are quashed and the taxpayer is given a fresh, properly-noticed opportunity (with a minimum 15-day clear notice period) rather than the matter being remitted to the appellate stage.
  • This is now a well-settled, frequently-applied line of relief for UP GST taxpayers who can show their SCN/order surfaced only under the portal's secondary notices tab.

Sections Involved

  • Section 73 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 – the provision under which the quashed demand order was passed.
  • Section 169 of the UPGST Act, 2017 – governs modes of valid service, engaged through the portal-tab defect analysis.

Decision – In Favour of

In favour of the assessee — the order was quashed for the portal-tab service defect, with a fresh, properly-noticed adjudication directed.

Case Details

Court: High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
Case No.: Writ Tax No. 3195 of 2025 (Neutral Citation No. 2025:AHC:117027-DB)
Coram: Hon'ble Shekhar B. Saraf, J. and Hon'ble Praveen Kumar Giri, J.
Date of Order: 18.07.2025

Link to Download the Order

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