Facts of the Case

The petitioner, M/s. Mangal Deep, a sole proprietary concern trading in toys and registered under GST since 1 July 2017, challenged a show cause notice dated 25.09.2023 for Financial Year 2017-18 under Section 73 of the CGST Act, the consequent order dated 20.12.2023 raising a demand of Rs.2,89,952/-, and also the vires of Notification No.09/2023-Central Tax and the corresponding State Tax notification extending the limitation for adjudication. No reply had been filed to the SCN, and the order was passed ex-parte after the petitioner's accountant missed the notice, which had been uploaded on the GST Portal's 'Additional Notices Tab', compounded by the accountant's medical exigency at the relevant time.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether the challenge to Notification No.09/2023 (and the parallel State notification), pending before the Supreme Court in a batch of matters, could be decided in this petition.
  2. Whether the ex-parte Section 73 order deserved to be set aside for the petitioner's failure to notice the SCN uploaded on the 'Additional Notices Tab', given that the SCN predated the portal fix of 16 January 2024.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The SCN dated 25.09.2023 was uploaded only on the 'Additional Notices Tab' and was therefore not brought to the Petitioner's knowledge, compounded by the accountant's inability to attend to it due to medical exigency of his parents.
  • The resultant ex-parte order was passed without an opportunity to contest the demand on merits.

Respondent's Arguments

  • The validity of Notification No.09/2023 was under consideration by the Supreme Court in S.L.P.(C) No.4240/2025 (M/s HCC-SEW-MEIL-AAG JV), and various High Courts (Allahabad, Patna, Punjab & Haryana) had taken differing views on connected notifications, warranting that the notification challenge await the Supreme Court's ruling rather than independent adjudication here.

Court Order / Findings

  • The Court noted that the challenge to Notification No.09/2023 and the parallel State notification would be governed by the outcome of the Supreme Court proceedings and this Court's own batch matter (Engineers India Limited v. Union of India, W.P.(C) 9214/2024), and kept that issue expressly open.
  • On facts, though the 'Additional Notices Tab' had been made a visible general-menu item after 16 January 2024, the SCN here was issued on 25.09.2023, i.e., prior to that fix; finding that the petitioner did not get a proper opportunity to be heard, the Court set aside the impugned order dated 20.12.2023, following its own precedents in similar matters (Neelgiri Machinery, Satish Chand Mittal).
  • The petitioner was granted time till 25 July 2025 to file its reply, following which the Adjudicating Authority was to issue a fresh personal-hearing notice, consider the reply and submissions, and pass a fresh order, subject to the outcome of the Supreme Court's decision on the notifications.
  • Portal access was directed to be restored to enable the petitioner to upload its reply and access notices.

Important Clarification

  • Where a Section 73 show cause notice was issued before the GST Portal's fix of 16 January 2024 (which made the 'Additional Notices Tab' a visible general-menu item), an assessee's claim of having missed the notice due to it being confined to that tab carries greater weight, and an ex-parte order passed on such a notice will ordinarily be set aside and remanded for a fresh opportunity to reply and be heard.
  • Even while remanding on this procedural ground, courts keep the underlying substantive challenge to the validity of Section 168A notifications extending limitation open, tying the fresh adjudication's fate to the pending Supreme Court ruling.

Sections Involved

  • Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — determination of tax not paid or short paid, under which the demand was raised.
  • Section 168A of the CGST Act, 2017 — power to extend time limits in special circumstances, under which Notification No.09/2023 was issued and whose validity remains sub judice before the Supreme Court.

Decision – In Favour of

Allowed in favour of the Assessee to the extent of setting aside the ex-parte order and granting a fresh opportunity to reply and be heard; the notification-validity challenge was left open, subject to the Supreme Court's decision.

Case Details

Court: High Court of Delhi at New Delhi
Case No.: W.P.(C) 9032/2025 with CM APPL.38444-38445/2025
Coram: Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Rajneesh Kumar Gupta
Date of Decision: 4th July, 2025

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