In MAT/1236/2023 -CAL HC- Calcutta High Court stays operation of GST notice to M/s Gopeshwar Iron and Steel Works
Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam & Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya [18-08-2023]

Read Order: M/s. Gopeshwar Iron and Steel Works Private Limited and Anr V. The Superintendent, CGST & CX, Range 1, Durgapur 1 Division and Ors

Chahat Varma

New Delhi, September 7, 2023: The Calcutta High Court has stayed the operation of a notice issued to M/s. Gopeshwar Iron and Steel Works Private Limited (appellants) by the GST authority under Section 61 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act (CGST Act).

This intra-court appeal was filed against an order, in which the Single Bench had declined to grant any interim order. The appellants, had challenged a notice dated 17.04.2023 issued by the GST authority, under Section 61 of the CGST Act. The appellants' case was that the Audit Department had already conducted a scrutiny of their returns for the relevant period and had approved the returns by order dated 25.03.2022. They submitted that the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) had also issued summons to them for the same period and they had submitted all the documents asked for. In these circumstances, the authority cannot issue a fresh notice under Section 61 of the CGST Act.

The authority claimed to have received directions from the Analytical Wing of the Department to issue the notice dated 17.04.2023.

The division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya held that the issue was a jurisdictional one and stayed the operation of the notice dated 17.04.2023 till the disposal of the writ petition.

The authority was directed to file an affidavit-in-opposition in the writ petition, after which the writ petition will be heard and disposed of on merits and in accordance with law.