- The Petitioner contested an assessment order dated December 28, 2023, issued by the Joint Commissioner (Taxpayer Services) under Section 73(1) of the CGST/SGST Act, 2017, along with Section 20 of the IGST Act, 2017.
- The order was based on the Petitioner's Profit and Loss Account for 2017-18, which indicated accumulated sale returns of ?33,04,10,736/-, with ?9,30,06,195/- related to the VAT period. The Petitioner was required to substantiate sale returns in the GST regime amounting to ?23,74,04,541/- and faced a tax demand of ?71,22,136/- with interest.
- The Petitioner replied to the show cause notice and provided sample credit notes and fresh invoices but was not given the opportunity to present all relevant documents before the assessment order was issued.
Whether the assessment order, issued without allowing the Petitioner to submit all relevant documents and evidence, violated the principle of natural justice.
- The court noted that the Petitioner should have been given the chance to submit all credit notes and original invoices to support their claim. The failure of the assessing authority to allow this constituted a violation of natural justice.
- The court returned the matter to the assessing authority to issue a fresh order. The Petitioner is instructed to appear before the assessing authority with all relevant evidence on April 2, 2024. The assessing authority must review the evidence and issue a fresh order promptly in accordance with the law.
- If dissatisfied with the new order, the Petitioner may seek appropriate legal remedies under the statute.
The present judgement emphasizes the importance of chance of submission and due consideration of the documents presented before the lower authorities and that non-consideration of essential documents such as invoices, credit notes etc. falls under the scope of principles of natural justice. Therefore, the officers are duty bound to consider the evidence presented before them.