Numerous Petitions Are Reflecting Gross Violation Of Principles Of Natural Justice: Allahabad High Court Pulls Up SGST Official
The Allahabad High Court imposed costs of Rupees 20,000 on an SGST official for not following mandatory provisions of Section 75(4) of the GST Act,2017.
Section 75(4) of the GST act provides that an opportunity of hearing shall be granted where a request is received in writing from the person chargeable with tax or penalty, or where any adverse decision is contemplated against such person.
The division bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra observed that, “numerous petitions are being filed every day reflecting the gross violation of principles of natural justice by the officers wherein apparently as the entire procedure is online, the officers working in a wholly mechanical manner without adverting to the material available on record”
The bench further stated that, “ Such conduct of the officers in dealing with matters, besides resulting in huge loss of time on the part of the State Government, the same unnecessarily increases burden of this Court wherein numerous petitions every day, underlying violation of principles of natural justice, are being filed and as violations are so glaring, this Court is left with no option but to allow the petitions and remand back the matters to the authorities.”
The Court further directed that, “a proper training is imparted to the officers to deal with the matters in a proper manner as apparently circulars issued to the said officers have been ignored and/or have not been adverted to.”
Advocate Anil Prakash Mathur represented the Petitioner, while Standing Counsel Ankur Agarwal appeared for the Respondent.
Fact of The Case:
A manufacturer and Supplier of potato flakes challenged the order passed under Section 74 of GST Act,2017 by the SGST officer, wherein, a demand of Rs. 5.82 crore has been created. A show cause notice proposing to classify the product in question i.e. potato flakes under tariff heading 2005-2000 instead of 1105-2000 was issued. In the notice, column about date of personal hearing ‘NA’ was indicated and the same was the position of column about time of personal hearing.
Cause Title: Merino Industries Ltd. v. State of Uttar Pradesh and another (WRIT TAX No. - 1406 of 2025)
Appearance:
Petitioner Advocate Anil Prakash Mathur
Respondent Standing Counsel Ankur Agarwal
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