Dakshahastha Services Private Limited vs Assistant Commissioner ST
- Court
- Madras High Court
WP No. 44351 of 2026
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 29-10-2026
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE KRISHNAN RAMASAMY
WP No. 44351 of 2026
CNR:{HCMA012573892026}
AND
WMP NO. 49746 OF 2026,WMP NO. 49747 OF 2026
Dakshahastha Services Private Limited
Rep.by its Director
Sivakumar,
No.2, Krishnaveniammal Nagar,
lyappanthangal,
Chennai-600 056
..Petitioner(s)
Vs
1. Assistant Commissioner ST
Ayyapanthangal Assessment Circle,
Commercial Taxes Building,
Nazrathpet,
Chennai-600 123
2. State Tax Officer
Ayyapanthangal Assessment Circle,
Commercial Taxes Building, Nazrathpet,
Chennai
..Respondent(s)
PRAYER: The Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of
India seeking the issuance of a Writ of Certiorarified mandamus calling for the
records of the Respondent No.2 in the Impugned Order in Form DRC 07 vide
Ref.No.ZD3304262248189 dated 27.04.2026 and quash the same and direct the
Respondent No.1, to release the bank attachment of the petitioner company, its
directors and other related party entities.
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For Petitioner(s): Mr.Jitendra Kumar
For Respondent(s): Mr.I.Dinesh, Additional Government Pleader
(Taxes)
Order
This writ petition has been filed challenging the impugned order dated
st
27.04.2026 passed by the 1 respondent.
2. Mr.I.Dinesh, Additional Government Pleader (Taxes), takes notice on
behalf of the respondents. By consent of the parties, the main writ petition is
taken up for disposal at the admission stage itself.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner would submit that in this case, all
notices/communications were uploaded by the respondent under the a “View
Additional Notices and Orders” column in the GST common portal. Since the
business of the petitioner has come to standstill and that the petitioner was not
aware of the said notices, they failed to file their reply within the time. Under
these circumstances, the impugned order came to be passed by the respondent
without providing any opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner.
Therefore, this petition has been filed.
4. Further, he would submit that the respondent has already deducted a
sum of Rs.20,75,386/- from the ECL of the petitioner and now, the petitioner is
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willing to pay 25% of the disputed tax amount after deducting the amount
already recovered by the respondent. Hence, he requests this Court to grant an
opportunity to the petitioner to present their case before the respondent by
setting aside the impugned order.
5. On the other hand, the learned Additional Government Pleader (Taxes)
appearing for the respondent would submit that the respondent had uploaded the
notices in the GST Online Portal. But the petitioner failed to avail the said
opportunity. Further, he has fairly admitted that no opportunity of personal
hearing was provided to the petitioner prior to the passing of impugned order.
Therefore, he requested this Court to remit the matter back to the respondent,
subject to the payment of 25% of the disputed tax amount by the petitioner.
6. Heard the learned counsel on either side and perused the materials
available on record.
7. In the case on hand, it is evident that the show cause notice was
uploaded on the GST Portal Tab. According to the petitioner, he was not aware
of the issuance of the said show cause notice issued through the GST Portal and
the original of the said show cause notice was not furnished to them. In such
circumstances, this Court is of the view that the impugned assessment order
came to be passed without affording any opportunity of personal hearing to the
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petitioner, confirming the proposals contained in the show cause notice.
8. No doubt, sending notice by uploading in portal is a sufficient service,
but, the Officer who is sending the repeated reminders, despite the fact that
there is no response from the petitioner to the show cause notices etc., the
Officer should have applied his/her mind and explored the possibility of sending
notices by way of other modes prescribed in Section 169 of the GST Act, which
are also the valid mode of service under the Act, otherwise it will not be an
effective service, rather, it would only amount to fulfilling the empty
formalities. Merely passing an ex parte order by fulfilling the empty formalities
will not serve any useful purpose and the same will only pave way for
multiplicity of litigations, not only wasting the time of the Officer concerned,
but also the precious time of the Appellate Authority/Tribunal and this Court as
well.
9. Thus, when there is no response from the tax payer to the notice sent
through a particular mode, the Officer who is issuing notices should strictly
explore the possibilities of sending notices through some other mode as
prescribed in Section 169(1) of the Act, preferably by way of RPAD, which
would ultimately achieve the object of the GST Act. Therefore, this Court finds
that there has been a lack of effort in applying the available opportunities to
serve the notices/orders etc., effectively on the petitioner.
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10. Further, it was submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that
the respondent has already deducted a sum of Rs.20,75,386/- from the ECL of
the petitioner and now, the petitioner is willing to pay 25% of the disputed tax
amount after deducting the amount already recovered by the respondent. In such
view of the matter, this Court is inclined to set aside the impugned order dated
27.04.2026 passed by the respondent. Accordingly, this Court passes the
following order:-
(i) The impugned order dated 27.04.2026 is set aside and the
matter is remanded to the respondent for fresh consideration
on condition that the petitioner shall pay 25% of the disputed
tax amount, after deducting the amount already recovered by
the respondent within a period of four weeks from the date of
receipt of a copy of this order. The setting aside of the
impugned order will take effect from the date of payment of
the said amount.
(ii) The petitioner shall file their reply/objection along with
the required documents, if any, within a period of three weeks
from the date of payment of amount as stated above.
(iii) On filing of such reply/objection by the petitioner, the
respondent shall consider the same and issue a 14 days clear
notice, by fixing the date of personal hearing, to the petitioner
and thereafter, pass appropriate orders on merits and in
accordance with law, after hearing the petitioner, as
expeditiously as possible
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(iv) Considering the fact that the impugned orders itself have
been set aside, this Court is of the opinion that the attachment
made on the bank account of the petitioner cannot survive any
longer and hence, it is to be lifted. As a sequel, the concerned
Bank is directed to de-freeze the bank account of the
petitioner, immediately upon the production of a copy of this
order.
11. With the above directions, this writ petition is disposed of. No costs.
Consequently, WMP.No.49746/2026 is ordered and WMP.No.49747/2026 is
closed.
29-10-2026
Index: Yes/No
Speaking/Non-speaking order
Neutral Citation: Yes/No
SK
To
1. Assistant Commissioner ST
Ayyapanthangal Assessment Circle,
Commercial Taxes Building,
Nazrathpet,
Chennai-600 123
2. State Tax Officer
Ayyapanthangal Assessment Circle, Commercial Taxes Building,
Nazrathpet, Chennai
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WP No. 44351 of 2026
KRISHNAN RAMASAMY J.
SK
WP No. 44351 of 2026
AND
WMP NO. 49746 OF 2026,WMP NO. 49747 OF 2026
29-10-2026
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