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2021 (9) TMI 54 - TRIPURA HIGH COURTRecovery of unpaid Central as well as GST and IGST from the petitioner with penalty - wrongful availment of input tax credit - cancellation of registration of petitioner - time limitation - HELD THAT:- First and foremost the Superintendent of Taxes has passed five separate orders for different tax periods starting with 2017-18 to 2020-21 raising tax demands with penalty. We have noticed that he had issued show cause notice for assessment and penalty on 10.03.2021 only for the assessment period 2018-19. Without any further show-cause notice he could not have assessed the petitioner for remaining years and imposed penalties. His stand that once notice is issued for a particular tax period, no notice is necessary for other tax periods stems from utter ignorance of law. This fundamental breach is sufficient to vitiate the orders of assessment barring one for the period in relation to the year 2018-19. Even otherwise the impugned order cannot sustain. The Superintendent of Taxes has passed an order which runs into close to 150 pages in which he has discussed range of issues completely unconnected to the case on hand - The ultimate observations and conclusions in the order are hard to find and more difficult to understand. The task of the reader of this order to fish out the reasons in support of the demand is more difficult than finding a needle from a haystack. Howsoever hard we may try, it is difficult to separate the grain from the chaff. The order passed by the Superintendent and the approach that he has adopted is totally unsatisfactory. To begin with, the order reads more like a thesis in several fields of law in which he has tried to exhibit his halfbaked, incomplete and internet acquired knowledge, in the process completely losing sight of the focal issue. He has made his order needlessly verbose, in the process not deciding the vital issues at all. More importantly he has referred to materials, documents and judgments and there is no evidence that he ever shared the same with the petitioner before relying upon them - Accurate or otherwise the noticee must have a chance to meet with such adverse material before it is used against him. For each individual reason namely the order being unintelligible, the action failing the test of principles of natural justice and the Superintendent of Taxes exceeding the show-cause notice, the impugned orders must be set aside. For sheer verbosity the orders must go. Petition disposed off.
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