Limitation period and delay: remand granted subject to pre-deposit, filing of reply, and time bound fresh adjudication.

Challenge to a GST adjudication order raised delay and expiry of the statutory appeal period; the court treated limitation and non-compliance with show cause process as central. Applying the principle that delayed petitions may be remitted for de novo adjudication on terms balancing revenue and assessee interests, the court quashed and remitted the order subject to conditional compliance: a pre-deposit of half the disputed tax within a prescribed period, filing a reply treating the order as an addendum, time bound final adjudication, and vacatur of bank attachment on compliance; non-compliance permits departmental continuation.

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Issues: Whether the impugned GST order dated 22.08.2024 should be quashed and remitted for fresh adjudication subject to conditions including a pre-deposit by the petitioner, in view of delay and expired statutory appeal period.

Analysis: The Court examined the factual timeline showing non-compliance by the petitioner with the show cause notice and missed personal hearings, noted that the statutory period for filing an appeal under Section 107 of the GST enactments, 2017 has expired, and considered the petitioner's offer to pre-deposit 50% of the disputed tax to enable de novo adjudication. The Court referred to precedents and practice where matters delayed in approaching the Court are remitted for fresh adjudication on terms requiring deposit of a part of the disputed tax, with the quantum linked to length of delay, to balance revenue and assessee interests. The Court imposed time-bound conditions for deposit, filing of reply to the show cause notice treating the impugned order as an addendum, and directed final adjudication within a specified period, while providing for lifting of bank attachment upon compliance.

Conclusion: The Court quashed the impugned order and remitted the matter to the respondent for fresh adjudication on merits, subject to the petitioner depositing 50% of the disputed tax within thirty days and filing a reply to the show cause notice; bank attachment to be vacated on compliance; failure to comply permits the respondent to proceed as if the petition were dismissed.

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