2023 (10) TMI 312 - HC - GST

Petition Dismissed for Lack of Natural Justice Violation and Availability of Alternative Remedies

The HC dismissed the petition, holding that the petitioner was aware of and did not dispute ownership of the web portals inspected. Since the material ... Violation of principles of natural justice - public domain material - inspection of online material/web portals as evidence - alternative statutory remedy - dismissal of writ petitionViolation of principles of natural justice - public domain material - inspection of online material/web portals as evidence - Whether the impugned order was passed in violation of the principles of natural justice by taking into account material not included in the return or provided by the petitioner - HELD THAT: - The Court found that the material referred to in the impugned order (notably paragraph 19.3) was gathered from the petitioner-owned URLs www.pinkytravels.com and https://www.pinkytravels.com/Home/about. The petitioner did not dispute ownership of those web portals and did not contend that it had not been confronted with the material. As the material was in the public domain and the petitioner was not denied an opportunity to meet the same, the Court held that reliance on that material did not amount to a breach of the principles of natural justice.No violation of the principles of natural justice was made out.Alternative statutory remedy - dismissal of writ petition - Whether the writ petition was maintainable notwithstanding the existence of an alternative statutory remedy - HELD THAT: - The Court noted that an alternative statutory remedy is available against the impugned order. In the light of the conclusion that no breach of natural justice occurred and given the availability of statutory remedies, the Court declined to entertain the writ petition and dismissed it, while leaving open the petitioner's right to pursue the alternate remedy and preserving all contentions.Writ petition dismissed; petitioner not precluded from pursuing alternative statutory remedies.Final Conclusion: The writ petition challenging the impugned notice and order for FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 is dismissed on the merits and because an alternative statutory remedy exists; the Court held that reliance on information from the petitioner-owned public web portals did not breach natural justice and preserved the petitioner's rights to pursue available statutory remedies. Issues involved: Violation of principles of natural justice in passing the impugned order u/s 61 of CGST Act and Rule 99 of CGST Rules.The writ petition sought to quash a notice dated 25/4/22 u/s 61 of CGST Act read with Rule 99 of CGST Rules in Form ASMT-10 for FY 2017-18 & 2018-19 and the impugned order dated 31/05/2023 passed by the Deputy Commissioner, Central Tax, GST, Division Wazirpur, Delhi, along with subsequent proceedings. The petitioner contended that the impugned order violated the principles of natural justice by considering material not included with the return or provided by the petitioner. The court noted that the material in question was gathered from specific URLs owned by the petitioner, and the petitioner was aware of this material. Consequently, the court found no merit in the argument that the principles of natural justice were violated.The petitioner had an alternative statutory remedy against the impugned order. The petitioner's counsel argued that the order was passed in violation of natural justice, citing Para 19.3 of the impugned order. However, the court observed that the details in Para 19.3 were obtained from URLs owned by the petitioner, which were in the public domain. The court concluded that there was no violation of natural justice. As a result, the writ petition was dismissed, but the petitioner was not precluded from pursuing alternative remedies. All rights and contentions of the parties were kept open for further proceedings.