2022 (7) TMI 1585 - HC - GST

Time barred SCN or not - suppression or misstatement is a factual issue or purely a legal question - whether the type of service rendered by the appellant was an exempted service is also a factual matter which needs to be adjudicated by the appropriate authority who has issued the show cause notice? - HELD THAT - The learned Single Bench was fully right in refusing to entertain the writ petition and interdict the show cause notice. The appeal and the connected application are dismissed and the order passed by the learned Single Bench is affirmed with a direction to the appellant to submit the objections to the show cause notice within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the server of copy of this judgment and order. On receiving the objections the concerned authority / respondent shall adjudicate the show cause notice and pass a reasoned order on merits and in accordance with law.

Summary

In the case before the Calcutta High Court, the appellant challenged an order dated January 17, 2022, in W.P.A. No. 21233 of 2021, contesting a show cause notice from the Service Tax Commissionerate dated October 11, 2021. The appellant argued that the notice was "barred by limitation" and claimed the service in question was an "exempted service," rendering the notice "ab initio void." The Court, led by Justices T. S. Sivagnanam and Bivas Pattanayak, determined that these issues were factual rather than purely legal and should be adjudicated by the authority that issued the notice. Consequently, the Court upheld the Single Bench's decision to dismiss the writ petition, directing the appellant to submit objections to the show cause notice within four weeks. The concerned authority is then to adjudicate and issue a reasoned order on the merits. The appeal and connected application were dismissed without costs, and a certified copy of the order was to be provided expeditiously upon request.