Vaibhav Jindal v. Sales Tax Officer & Anr

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The Petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, challenging the Show Cause Notice dated 23rd September, 2023 (hereafter ‘impugned SCN’), issued under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017 (hereinafter ‘CGST Act’). The impugned SCN raises a demand qua the availed Input Tax Credit to the tune of Rs. 28,08,984/- in respect of the tax period July 2017 to March 2018.

3. The present petition was taken up as a part of a batch of petitions wherein the vires of Notification 09/2023-Cental Tax dated 31st March, 2025 and Notification 56/2023-Cental Tax dated 28th December, 2023 were challenged. In this Petition however, there is no specific challenge raised to the said Notifications.

4. The lead matter in the batch of petitions which challenged the Notification was W.P.(C) 16499/2023 titled ‘DJST Traders Pvt. Ltd. vs. Union of India and Ors’. On 22rd April, 2025, the parties were heard at length qua the validity of the impugned notifications and accordingly, the following order was passed:

of 2023 (Central Tax). This judgment of the Telangana High Court is now presently under consideration by the Supreme Court in S.L.P No 4240/2025 titled M/s HCC- SEW-MEIL-AAG JV v. Assistant Commissioner of State Tax & Ors. The Supreme Court vide order dated 21st February, 2025, passed the following order in the said case:

7. In the meantime, the challenges were also pending before the Bombay High Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In the Punjab and Haryana High Court vide order dated 12th March, 2025, all the writ petitions have been disposed of in terms of the interim orders passed therein. The operative portion of the said order reads as under:

8. The Court has heard ld. Counsels for the parties for a substantial period today. A perusal of the above would show that various High Courts have taken a view and the matter is squarely now pending before the Supreme Court.

9. Apart from the challenge to the notifications itself, various counsels submit that even if the same are upheld, they would still pray for relief for the parties as the Petitioners have been unable to file replies due to several reasons and were unable to avail of personal hearings in most cases. In effect therefore in most cases the adjudication orders are passed ex-parte. Huge demands have been raised and even penalties have been imposed.

10. Broadly, there are six categories of cases which are pending before this Court. While the issue concerning the validity of the impugned notifications is presently under consideration before the Supreme Court, this Court is of the prima facie view that, depending upon the categories of petitions, orders can be passed affording an opportunity to the Petitioners to place their stand before the adjudicating authority. In some cases, proceedings including appellate remedies may be permitted to be pursued by the Petitioners, without delving into the question of the validity of the said notifications at this stage.

11. The said categories and proposed reliefs have been broadly put to the parties today. They may seek instructions and revert by tomorrow i.e., 23rd April, 2025.”

5. Thereafter, on 23rd April, 2025, this Court, having noted that the validity of the impugned notification is under consideration before the Supreme Court, had disposed of several matters in the said batch of petitions after addressing other factual issues raised in the respective petitions. Additionally, while disposing of the said petitions, this Court clearly observed that the validity of the impugned notification therein shall be subject to the outcome of the proceedings before the Supreme Court.

6. Today, the submission of the Petitioner on facts, is that no Show Cause Notice has been served on the Petitioner except the summary of Show Cause Notice being shown in the portal of the Delhi Goods and Services Department. The Petitioner primarily contends that the impugned SCN ought to have been served in person or sent on email and not merely uploaded the GST Portal.