Taxpayer's GST show-cause notice reply and request for s.128A interest/penalty waiver rejected; order upheld on natural justice.

The dominant issue was whether the impugned GST order violated principles of natural justice by allegedly ignoring the taxpayer's reply to the SCN. The HC held that the reply had in fact been considered and dealt with in the impugned order; hence no breach of natural justice was made out, and the challenge failed. A further issue was whether the assessing authority could grant amnesty by waiver of interest and penalty under s.128A of the GST enactments. The HC held that the statute designates specified officers for such waiver and the assessing authority lacked jurisdiction to grant it; the request was rejected and the writ petition was disposed of.

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The writ petition challenged an assessment order dated 27.04.2024 on the ground that, despite a reply to the Show Cause Notice in GST DRC-01 dated 24.01.2024 (reply dated 20.02.2024), the authority failed to consider the petitioner's case, allegedly amounting to "violation of Principles of Natural Justice." The petitioner also relied on an application in Form GST SPL-02 seeking waiver of interest and penalty under Section 128A of the respective GST enactments. The Court held the challenge was meritless because "the Petitioner's submission has been considered and disposed of" in the impugned order. It further noted that officers are specifically designated under Section 128A to grant amnesty/waiver, and "the request of the Petitioner for such waiver cannot be granted by the Assessing Officer." Accordingly, the writ petition was disposed of, but a direction was issued to the competent authorities to consider and decide the Form GST SPL-02 application for waiver under Section 128A "on merits and in accordance with law" within six weeks.

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