The HC held that issuance of a single show cause notice...

The HC held that issuance of a single show cause notice encompassing multiple financial years contravenes the GST Act, which mandates that show cause notices must correspond to individual tax periods as defined under Section 2(106) and Sections 73/74. The Court emphasized that 'bunching' violates principles of natural justice and statutory provisions, as each financial year constitutes a separate tax period. Furthermore, Section 128's provision for waiver schemes cannot justify pre-notification notices aggregating multiple years, as this imposes undue hardship on taxpayers. The Court clarified that show cause notices must be issued either based on annual returns after their filing or on monthly returns if issued prior to annual return submission. Accordingly, the petition challenging the validity of the multi-year show cause notice was allowed, reinforcing strict adherence to the statutory time limitation and procedural safeguards under the GST Act.