GST portal-only notice service is invalid unless statutorily notified, preserving responses and appellate remedies for affected assessees.

Portal-only uploading of GST show-cause notices or orders in the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab is not valid service where the Common Portal has not been notified or prescribed for that purpose. Section 169 permits portal-based service only within the framework of Section 146 and applicable rules; an email merely alerting the assessee to an upload is not service by email. Ex parte adjudication based on an unacknowledged uploaded notice must return to the notice stage, and appeal limitation does not begin from portal-only service of an order. However, an assessee who replied and contested proceedings cannot invalidate adjudication solely for defective service.

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Issues: (i) Whether uploading a show-cause notice or order-in-original only in the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab on the GST Common Portal constitutes valid service under Sections 146 and 169 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017; (ii) What consequential relief is available where proceedings or appeals were affected by such portal-only service.

Issue (i): Whether uploading a show-cause notice or order-in-original only in the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab on the GST Common Portal constitutes valid service under Sections 146 and 169 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Analysis: Section 169 permits service by making a communication available on the Common Portal, but Section 146 requires the Government to notify that portal for specified functions or other prescribed purposes. The notifications issued under Section 146 notified the relevant portals for registration, tax payment, returns, settlement of integrated tax, e-way bills and e-invoicing; none notified www.gst.gov.in for service of show-cause notices or orders. Rule 142 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 also did not prescribe portal-uploading as a mode for service of such notices or orders. An e-mail merely intimating that a document has been uploaded, without transmitting the notice or order itself, is not service by e-mail under Section 169(1)(c). The inaccessible and inconspicuous placement of communications on the portal further militates against treating such uploading as effective statutory service.

Conclusion: Mere uploading of a show-cause notice or order-in-original on the 'View Additional Notices and Orders' tab is not valid service and does not, by itself, trigger statutory consequences against the assessee.

Issue (ii): What consequential relief is available where proceedings or appeals were affected by such portal-only service.

Analysis: Where an assessee neither acknowledged receipt of the portal-uploaded show-cause notice nor filed a reply, an ex parte adjudication founded on that notice cannot stand and the matter must return to the show-cause notice stage with an opportunity to respond and be heard. Where an order-in-original was passed after contest but was served only through portal-uploading, the limitation for appeal was not triggered. However, where the assessee had responded to the show-cause notice and contested the proceedings, defective service cannot be invoked to invalidate the adjudication solely on that ground, consistently with Section 160(2).

Conclusion: Ex parte proceedings based solely on an unacknowledged portal-uploaded show-cause notice are restored to the notice stage; appeals rejected as time-barred due to portal-only service are restored for merits adjudication; and assessees may file replies or appeals within four weeks, as applicable. These directions are in favour of the assessee, subject to the exception for matters already contested on merits.

Final Conclusion: Portal-based communication can produce legal consequences only when it conforms to the statutory framework for service or where the recipient has acted upon it; otherwise, the affected assessee must receive an effective opportunity to contest the demand or pursue appellate remedies.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Common Portal has not been notified or prescribed for service of notices and orders, mere uploading of such communications on the portal, without actual transmission by a statutorily valid mode or acknowledgment and participation by the assessee, is not valid service under Section 169 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

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