2025 (5) TMI 1256 - HC - GST

Extension of time limits for adjudication under the GST regime - Validity of Notification no. 56/2023-CT - procedural requirements under Section 168A for prior to the issuance of notifications - Challenged a Summary of SCN and impugned order - HELD THAT - It is submitted at the Bar that the legality validity and propriety of the Notification no. 56/2023-CT dated 28.12.2023 is under examination of the Hon ble Supreme Court of India in M/S HCC-SEW-MEIL-AAG JV Vs. Assistant Commissioner of State Tax and others in Petition 2025 (4) TMI 60 - SC ORDER . It is also submitted that the Notification no. 56/2023-CT dated 28.12.2023 has been interfered with by a Judgment of the Coordinate Bench. Thus it is observed in the interim that there shall be no coercive action against the petitioner in terms of the Order date 27.04.2024 till the returnable date.

Summary

The Gauhati High Court, through Justice Manish Choudhury, addressed a writ petition challenging a Summary Show Cause Notice dated 12.12.2023 and a subsequent Order dated 27.04.2024 concerning the tax period 2018-2019. The petitioner contended that the impugned Summary Show Cause Notice was issued relying on Notification no. 56/2023-CT dated 28.12.2023, enacted under Section 168A of the CGST Act, 2017, which allegedly violated the procedural requirements of that section. Further, the petitioner argued that no mandatory Show Cause Notice under Section 73(1) of the CGST Act was issued prior to the impugned Order, emphasizing that "the mandatory Show Cause Notice under Section 73[1] of the CGST Act cannot be equated with a Summary Show Cause Notice issued under the rules."The Court noted that the legality of Notification no. 56/2023-CT is under scrutiny before the Supreme Court in M/S HCC-SEW-MEIL-AAG JV Vs. Assistant Commissioner of State Tax (S.L.P. [C] no. 4240/2025) and has been interfered with by a Coordinate Bench. Consequently, the Court ordered that "there shall be no coercive action against the petitioner in terms of the Order dated 27.04.2024, till the returnable date" of 04.06.2025, thereby granting interim relief.