Facts of the Case

Panchmukh Sai Enterprise, a registered partnership firm, was served with a show-cause notice dated 29.05.2024 in Form GST DRC-01, followed by an adjudication order dated 24.08.2024, consolidating multiple tax periods from Financial Year 2019-20 to 2022-23. The petitioner also complained of the absence of a Document Identification Number and attachment of its bank account pursuant to the impugned proceedings, but pressed primarily the ground that a single show-cause notice covering more than one financial year was impermissible under the GST Act.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether a single show-cause notice covering more than one financial year is permissible under Section 73 and Section 74 of the GST Act, 2017.
  2. Whether the petitioner is entitled to have the composite notice and consequential order set aside, following the Division Bench ruling in W.P.No.11028 of 2025 & batch.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The issuance of a single show-cause notice consolidating multiple tax periods from FY 2019-20 to FY 2022-23, without a valid DIN and with consequential attachment of the bank account, is illegal, arbitrary and violative of the statutory mandate and natural justice.
  • Such a composite notice/order violates Sections 73 and 74 of the GST Act, 2017 and ought to be set aside, with a direction to issue separate notices per assessment year.

Respondent's Arguments

  • The Government Pleader for Commercial Tax appeared for the respondents; the order does not record any distinguishing defence against the binding Division Bench ruling on composite notices.

Court Order / Findings

  • The Court noted that a Division Bench of the High Court, in W.P.No.11028 of 2025 & batch, had held that a single show-cause notice or composite assessment order cannot be passed for more than one tax period — a month, if assessment precedes the due date for the annual return, or a year, once that due date has passed.
  • The writ petition was disposed of, setting aside the impugned show-cause notice dated 29.05.2024, leaving it open to the respondents to initiate fresh proceedings for each assessment year separately.
  • The period from the impugned show-cause notice till receipt of the present order was excluded for computing limitation; no costs were awarded.

Important Clarification

  • The bar on composite notices/orders spanning multiple tax periods applies equally at the show-cause-notice stage and at the final-order stage — a composite notice inviting a single reply for several financial years is as impermissible as a composite adjudication order.
  • Setting aside such a notice on this ground leaves the Department free to reissue separate, year-wise notices, with the intervening period excluded from limitation.

Sections Involved

  • Section 73, CGST/APGST Act, 2017 and Section 74, CGST/APGST Act, 2017 — determination of tax, with the composite-notice bar applicable to both.

Decision – In Favour of

Assessee, on the composite-notice ground; disposed of with liberty to the Department to proceed year-wise.

Case Details

High Court of Andhra Pradesh at Amaravati; W.P.No.27935 of 2025; Coram: Hon'ble Sri Justice R. Raghunandan Rao and Hon'ble Sri Justice Subhendu Samanta; Order dated 29.10.2025.

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