GST notice authentication requirement: unsigned show cause notice and summary order were invalidated for lack of digital signature.

Compliance with Rule 26(3) of the Jharkhand GST Rules, 2017 was treated as mandatory for issuance of show cause notices and summary orders through a digital signature certificate. Because the notice and summary order produced by the petitioner bore neither a manual signature nor a verifiable digital signature, and the respondents did not produce signed versions, the documents were held unauthenticated and invalid. The unsigned notice and summary order were set aside, with liberty to initiate fresh proceedings in accordance with law using proper digital signature authentication.

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Issues: Whether the show cause notice and summary order under the GST regime were liable to be set aside for want of signature or digital signature, in view of the mandatory requirement under the Rules.

Analysis: The notice and the summary of order produced by the petitioner did not bear any manual or digital signature. Although the respondents asserted that digital signatures had been affixed, the signed versions were not produced. The Court treated compliance with Rule 26(3) of the Jharkhand Goods and Services Tax (SGST) Rules, 2017 as mandatory for issuance of notices and orders through a digital signature certificate, and deprecated the practice of issuing such documents without proper authentication.

Conclusion: The unsigned notice and summary order were set aside, and the writ petition was allowed with liberty to the respondents to initiate fresh proceedings in accordance with law with digital signature.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the applicable GST Rules mandate issuance of notices and orders through a digital signature certificate, an unsigned or unauthenticated notice or order is liable to be invalidated.

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