The Madras High Court has held that the limitation period for challenging GST assessment order starts ticking from the date of rectification application rejection.
The bench of Justice K.Kumaresh Babu has observed that when the appeal is filed by the assessee as against the original order of assessment, the period of limitation shall be calculated from the date on which the rectification had been dismissed.
The petitioner/assessee has challenged the order of assessment and the order of rectification passed by the respondent, pertaining to the year 2019-2020 and 2022-2023.
A perusal of the order would show that the order was the show cause notice which was found to be vague. Pursuant to the show cause notice, the petitioner has filed a detailed reply. On consideration of the detailed reply, the order has been passed. The rectification application has been dismissed holding that the grounds raised in the rectification petition are all in the nature of challenging the order of assessment.
The challenge in the Writ Petition apart from the vagueness of the show cause notice which had already been held, since had been acted upon by the petitioner, the said claim could not be raised in the present Writ Petition. All other grounds are on the merits of the assessment order. Therefore, it would be proper for the petitioner to approach the appropriate authority.
The appellate authority would insist on calculating the period of limitation from the date when the original assessment order was passed and in such case, the appeal would be much beyond the period of limitation and would apprehend that the appeal would not be entertained as it is being made beyond the period of limitation.
After assessment order has been made, Section 161 of the GST Act provides for an application to be made for rectification. Such rectification can be disposed either in favour of the assessee or against him. If any rectification is made, it would get merged into the original order.
The court held that just because the rectification application has been rejected, the period of limitation to challenge the original assessment order cannot be said to begin from the date on which the original order was passed, it would only count from the date on which the order of rectification has been passed.
Case Details
Case Title: M/s.SPK and Co Versus The State Tax Officer
Case No.: W.P.(MD)Nos.27787 and 27788 of 2024 and W.M.P.(MD)Nos.23585 and 23586 of 2024
Date: 22.11.2024
Counsel For Petitioner: B.Vijay Karthikeyan
Counsel For Respondent: J.K.Jayaselan, Government Advocate
