The Hon’ble Madras High Court in the case of Famina Shopping Mall (P.) Ltd. v. Assistant Commissioner of GST and Central Excise [W.P. (MD) No. 19284 of 2021 dated March 14, 2024] dismissed the writ petition and held that the officer of Directorate General of GST Intelligence (“DGGI”) is a proper officer for issuance of Show Cause Notice.
Facts:
Famina Shopping Mall (P.) Ltd. (“the Petitioner”) has filed a writ petition before the Hon’ble High Court challenging the proceedings initiated by the Revenue Department (“the Respondent”) wherein the demand was raised by the Respondent for payment of tax amount along with interest and penalty under Section 74(5) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (“the CGST Act”) failing following the search and seizure proceedings conducted by the Respondent. The Petitioner contended that, the officer issuing the pre-show cause notice i.e. officer of DGGI is not a proper officer as per Circular No. 23/2021 dated October 04, 2021 passed by Commercial Tax Department of the State.
Issue:
Whether officer of DGGI is proper officer for issuance of Show Cause Notice?
Held:
The Hon’ble Madras High Court in W.P. (MD) No. 19284 of 2021 held as under:
- Noted that, as per Circular No. 31/05/2018 – GST dated February 09, 2018, the officer of DGGI have the power to issue show cause notice.
- Opined that, the submissions made by the Petitioner is not acceptable. Also, the Impugned proceedings are at the stage of pre-show cause notice only.
- Held that, the writ petition is dismissed.
Relevant Extract of the Circular:
Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST dated February 09, 2018
“6. The Central Tax officers of Audit Commissionerates and Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (hereinafter referred to as “DGGI”) shall exercise the powers only to issue show cause notices. A show cause notice issued by them shall be adjudicated by the competent Central Tax officer of the executive Commissionerate in whose jurisdiction the noticee is registered when such cases pertain to jurisdiction of one executive Commissionerate of Central Tax only.”
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