Madras HC Orders Fresh Hearing For Hardware Trader On 25% Tax Deposit, Says Officers Should Try Other Notice Modes After Portal Silence

The petitioner challenged an assessment order dated 31 January 2025 and consequential Form GST DRC-07 order for FY 2020–21.

It contended that illness prevented the proprietor from attending to the business and monitoring notices uploaded under the GST portal’s “View Additional Notices and Orders” tab.

The petitioner said it had no effective opportunity to respond or attend a personal hearing.

The respondent acknowledged that no personal hearing had been provided and agreed to a remand subject to payment of 25% of the disputed tax.

The petitioner offered to make that payment.

The Court exercised its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution to review the challenged assessment proceedings.

Section 169(1) of the GST Act provides for service of notices and orders through the modes prescribed by that section; portal service is a valid mode, but the Court stated that where a taxpayer does not respond to notices sent through one mode, the officer should consider other available modes, preferably registered post with acknowledgment due (RPAD), to achieve effective service.

The Court also treated the absence of a personal hearing, in the circumstances of this case, as a ground for remitting the matter for reconsideration.

The challenged assessment was stated to arise under Section 73 of the TNGST/CGST Act, 2017

The Court accepted that uploading notices to the portal is a valid mode of service, but considered that repeated non-response should prompt the assessing officer to explore other service methods available under Section 169(1), rather than proceed solely on the basis of portal uploads.

The respondent also conceded that the petitioner had not been given a personal hearing.

In view of these circumstances, and the petitioner’s undertaking to pay 25% of the disputed tax, the Court found remand appropriate

The petitioner must file its reply and supporting documents within three weeks after payment.

The respondent must then consider the response, provide 14 days’ clear notice of a personal hearing, and pass a fresh order on the merits and in accordance with law.

The writ petition was disposed of without costs, and the connected miscellaneous petition was closed