Directory time-limit under GST assessment law: belated return ends best judgment assessment and the order was quashed.

The Madras HC reiterated that the time-limit in the proviso to Section 62 of the Tamil Nadu GST Act is directory, not mandatory. Once a belated return is filed, the best judgment assessment under Section 62 does not survive and the matter must be reconsidered in further assessment. Relying on its consistent prior view and declining to depart from binding precedents, the Court held that the assessment order could not be sustained and quashed the impugned order.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order passed under Section 62 of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 could survive after the return was filed belatedly, and whether the time-limit in the proviso to that provision is directory.

Analysis: The Court followed its consistent view that the time-limit prescribed under the proviso to Section 62 is directory rather than mandatory. It noted that once the return is filed, even belatedly, the best judgment assessment no longer survives, and the matter has to be considered afresh in the course of further assessment. The Court declined to depart from the binding precedents relied on before it.

Conclusion: The assessment order could not be sustained; the writ petition was allowed and the impugned order was quashed.

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