Proper service of tax notices requires effective communication; first-time portal upload alone cannot justify dismissing an appeal as time-barred.

First-time uploading of a tax show cause notice and consequential determination order in the portal's additional notices/orders tab, without effective communication or enabling instructions, did not amount to proper service. On that footing, the taxpayer could not be treated as having had effective notice of the proceedings, and the appeal could not be rejected as time-barred on an assumed basis of knowledge. The delay-based dismissal was therefore unsustainable, and the matter had to be reconsidered on merits, restoring the taxpayer's right to a substantive hearing.

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Issues: (i) whether uploading the show cause notice and determination order for the first time in the tab for additional notices/orders amounted to proper service; and (ii) whether the appellate authority was justified in dismissing the appeal on the ground of delay.

Issue (i): Whether uploading the show cause notice and determination order for the first time in the tab for additional notices/orders amounted to proper service.

Analysis: The notice and the consequential order were stated to have been uploaded only in the additional notices/orders tab prior to the revamping of the portal. The Court relied on its earlier view that such first-time uploading in that tab, without appropriate instructions or effective communication, does not amount to proper service of notice. The petitioner's case that he was unaware of both the notice and the order was accepted as a relevant circumstance.

Conclusion: Proper service was not established; the petitioner could not be treated as having had effective notice of the proceedings.

Issue (ii): Whether the appellate authority was justified in dismissing the appeal on the ground of delay.

Analysis: Since the notice and order were not shown to have been properly served, the appeal could not have been treated as time-barred on the footing that the petitioner had knowledge of the proceedings. The delay-based dismissal therefore could not stand, and the appeal required examination on merits as if filed in time.

Conclusion: The dismissal of the appeal on the ground of delay was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The appellate order was set aside and the appeal was directed to be reconsidered on merits within a stipulated time, restoring the petitioner's right to a substantive hearing.

Ratio Decidendi: First-time uploading of a tax notice and order in the additional notices/orders tab of the portal, without effective communication or enabling instructions, does not constitute proper service and cannot be the basis for rejecting an appeal as time-barred.

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