TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (2) TMI 831
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....ition instituted under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, assail is made to a Show Cause Notice together with a Summary in Form GST DRC-01 having reference no. ZD181124009288G dated 29.11.2024 issued by the Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Jorhat Zone, Jorhat, Assam [the respondent no. 2]. 3. The Show Cause Notice in Form GST DRC-01 bearing Reference no. ZD181124009288G dated 29.11.2024 for the Financial Year : 2020-2021 has come to be issued to the petitioner company under the hand of the respondent no. 2 stating inter-alia that on examination of the information furnished in the Annual Return for the Financial Year : 2020-2021 under various heads and the information furnished in GSTR-01, GSTR-2A, GSTR-3B, EWB and other records available in the office, it has been found that the petitioner company had not declared its correct tax liability while filing the Annual Return in Form GSTR-09. It is stated that the petitioner company had availed excess Input Tax Credit [ITC] from cancelled dealers, returned defaulters and tax non-payers. By the Show Cause Notice, the petitioner has been asked to pay a total liability of Rs. 33,03,968/- [= Rs. 24,012/- (CGST) + Rs. 24,012/- (....
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....of the Hon'ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh, Writ Petition no. 1463/2025 [M/s the Cotton Corporation of India vs. Assistant Commissioner (ST)(Audit) (FAC), Regional GST Audit & Enforcement Office, Vijayawada and others], decided on 05.02.2025, and a decision of the House of Lords in Dodds vs. Walker, [1981] 2 All ER 609. 7. Mr. Gogoi, learned Standing Counsel, Finance and Taxation Department, Assam appearing for all the official respondents has submitted that the Show Cause Notice issued on 29.11.2024 was within time. He has submitted that for any proceeding which starts with issuance of a show cause notice, the calculation of time commences from the date of issuance of the show cause notice and taking into account the provisions of the General Clauses Act, the impugned Show Cause Notice was clearly in time. With 28.02.2025 was the prescribed last date for passing an order under Section 73[9], a show cause notice issued even on 30.11.2024 would fulfill all the requirements as per the corresponding date rule. Thus, the challenge made by the petitioner is a misconceived one and therefore, the writ petition must fail. 8. I have given due consideration to the submissions of t....
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.... or utilised relates to or within three years from the date of erroneous refund. * * * * * * * 11. From the afore-quoted provisions, it is discernible that the proper officer is required to issue the show cause notice under sub-section [1] of Section 73 atleast three months prior to the time limit specified in sub-section [10] of Section 73 for issuance of the order. As per sub-section [10] of Section 73, the proper officer shall issue the order under sub-section [9] of Section 73 within three years from the due date for furnishing annual return for the Financial Year to which the tax not paid or short paid or input tax credit wrongly availed or utilized relates to or within three years from the date of erroneous refund. 12. Section 44 of the CGST/AGST Act has provided for filling of an Annual Return by every registered person for each Financial Year, with the audited Annual Financial Statement for every Financial Year electronically, within such time and in such form and in such manner as prescribed. Sub-rule [1] of Rule 80 : 'Annual Return' of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 ['the CGST Rules', for short] has prescribed that every registered person, r....
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....f the CGST/AGST Act in Form GSTR-9 and Form GSTR-9C became twenty-eight day of February, 2022 [28.02.2022], which was the last day of the month of February, 2022, a month having 28 [twenty-eight] days because the year 2022 was not a leap year. 15. Statutorily, the due date of filing the annual return for the Financial Year : 2020-2021 had been re-fixed on 28.02.2022 by changing the earlier statutorily fixed mile-post of 31.12.2021 by two months. As a result, the three years' time period under Section 73[10] is to be recounted from 28.02.2022. Therefore, the time limit to pass the order under sub-section [9] of Section 73 had become 28.02.2025, that is, the twenty-eight day of February, 2025 by way of the corresponding date rule, which will be referred in the later part of this order. Had the timeline been not changed, the time limit to pass the order under sub-section [9] of Section 73 would otherwise have been the 31st day of December, 2024. The period was subsequently extended by a period of two months. 16. The situation which has arisen here is akin to a situation which arises 'Rule of Three' in arithmetic involving three parameters and with two of them known, the solution....
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....uo] and end date [terminus ad quem], there must be at least three months. 21. The provision of sub-section [1] of Section 9 of the General Clauses Act has provided the manner for calculation of commencement [terminus a quo] and termination [terminus ad quem] of time. For ready reference, Section 9 is quoted hereinbelow - 9. Commencement and termination of time.- [1] In any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act, it shall be sufficient, for the purpose of excluding the first in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word 'from', and, for the purpose of including the last in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word 'to'. 22. From a reading of Section 9, quoted above, it is noticeable that in respect of any Central Act or Regulation, it shall be sufficient, for the purpose of excluding the first in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word 'from', and for the purpose of including the last in a series of days or any other period of time, to use the word 'to'. From the plain and simple language of Section 9, it is discernible that if a particular time-period is given from a cert....
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.... word 'to' is to be used. In order to exclude the first day of the period, the crucial thing to be noted is whether the period of limitation is delimited by a series of days or by any fixed period. This is intended to obviate the difficulties or inconvenience that may be caused to some parties. For instance, if a policy of insurance has to be good for one day from 1st January, it might be valid only for a few hours after its execution and the party or the beneficiary in the insurance policy would not get reasonable time to lay claim, unless 1st January is excluded from the period of computation. 13. ..... In order to apply Section 9, the first condition to be fulfilled is whether a prescribed period is fixed 'from' a particular point. When the period is marked by terminus a quo and terminus ad quem, the canon of interpretation envisaged in Section 9 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 require to exclude the first day. ..... 25. In Saketh India Ltd. and another vs. India Securities Ltd., reported in [1999] 3 SCC 1, it has been held that in computing a period of one month as limitation period, the date of cause of action is to be excluded as per the provisions contained in S....
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....erstood as a calendar month. ........ It is also clear under a rule that ......... in calculating the period that has elapsed after the occurrence of the specified event such as the giving of a notice, the day on which the event occurs is excluded from the reckoning. It is equally well established, ......... that when the relevant period is a month or a specified number of months after the giving of a notice the general rule is that the period ends upon the corresponding date in the appropriate subsequent month, i.e. the day of that month that bears the same number as the day of the earlier month on which the notice was given. 5. The corresponding date rule is simple. It is easy of application. Except in a small minority of cases, of which the instant case is not an example, all that the calculator has to do is to mark in his diary the corresponding date in the appropriate subsequent month. Because the number of days in five months of the year is less than in the seven others the inevitable consequence of the corresponding date rule is that one month's notice given in a 30-day month is one day shorter than one month's notice given in a 31-day month and is three days shorte....
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.... the general rule is that the period ends on the corresponding date in the appropriate subsequent month irrespective of whether some months are longer than others. To the same effect is the decision of this Court in Bibi Salma Khatoon vs. State of Bihar [2001] 7 SCC 197]. 18. Therefore when the period prescribed is three months [as contrasted from 90 days] from a specified date, the said period would expire in the third month on the date corresponding to the date upon which the period starts. As a result, depending upon the months, it may mean 90 days or 91 days or 92 days or 89 days. 30. In the case in hand, the end date [terminus ad que] is 28.02.2025. As per the interpretation for application of Section 9 of the General Clauses Act, the end date [terminus ad que] is to be included and therefore, the whole month of February, 2025 is to be included. The whole of the previous two months - December, 2025 and January, 2025 - are included to fulfill the parameter of actual three months, for the prescription contained in sub-section [2] of Section 73. 31. Every process/proceeding including a process of demand and recovery has a start point [terminus a quo] the process is....