Premature writ challenge to GST tax intimation is not maintainable before show cause notice and final adjudication.

An intimation of ascertained tax under section 73(5) of the Karnataka GST Act is not a final demand or adjudication; it only allows the taxpayer to pay the amount with interest or make a submission against the intimation. Where no show cause notice under section 73(1) has been issued and no final order under section 73(9) has been passed, the statutory process is incomplete. In that setting, a writ petition challenging the intimation is premature and not maintainable at that stage.

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Issues: Whether a writ petition challenging an intimation of tax issued under section 73(5) of the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 was premature and liable to be rejected at the threshold.

Analysis: The intimation under section 73(5) was only an ascertainment of tax and granted liberty either to pay the amount with interest or to file a submission against the intimation. No show cause notice under section 73(1) had been issued and no final order under section 73(9) had been passed. In that situation, the statutory process had not culminated in any final demand or adjudication.

Conclusion: The writ petition was premature and was not maintainable at that stage.

Ratio Decidendi: A writ petition challenging only an intimation of ascertained tax, before issuance of a show cause notice and before final adjudication under the GST recovery framework, is premature.

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