Vishal Kumar Arya vs Assistant Commissioner
2023 Latest Caselaw 665 Cal

Item No.3.

             IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT CALCUTTA
                          CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
                                APPELLATE SIDE


                               HEARD ON: 20.01.2023

                             DELIVERED ON: 20.01.2023

                                     CORAM:

                THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE T. S. SIVAGNANAM
                                      AND
          THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA


                              M.A.T. No.2003 of 2022
                                        with
                               I.A. No.CAN 1 of 2022

                            Vishal Kumar Arya.
                                    Vs.
         Assistant Commissioner, State Tax, Ultadanga Charge & Ors.


Appearance:-
Mrs. Rita Mukherjee,
Mr. Ghanshyam Jha,
Mr. Rowsan Kr. Jha                       ...               for the appellant.


Mr. T. M. Siddique,
Mr. Debasish Ghosh,
Mr. Nilotpal Chatterjee
Mr. D. Sahu                                    ...         for the State.

                                   JUDGMENT

(Judgment of the Court was delivered by T.S. SIVAGNANAM, J.)

1. This intra-Court appeal filed by the writ petitioner is

directed against the order dated 21st November, 2022 in W.P.A.

No.21599 of 2022. The said writ petition was filed challenging

an order passed by the authority under Section 74(9) of the

WBGST Act, 2017 dated 21st June, 2022. The adjudicating

authority had initially issued show cause notice to which the

appellant had submitted his reply and the personal hearing was

fixed on 20th June, 2022. Further, it appears that the appellant

did not appear on the said date and it is stated that due to

inadvertence, they overlooked the date and immediately on 21 st

June, 2022 submitted a representation tendering unconditional

apology and requesting that they may be granted one more chance

to appear before the authority and submit documents as was

called upon to the appellant by the adjudicating authority.

However, on 21st June, 2022, an order has been passed.

2. Considering the fact that the input tax credit has been

denied to the appellant on the ground that the registration of

the other end dealer was cancelled and according to the

appellant, there were sufficient documents to show that the

transactions done by them are genuine, we are of the view that

one more opportunity should be granted by the adjudicating

authority and decision should be taken on merits after

considering the documents that may be placed by the appellant

before the authority.

3. Therefore, we are inclined to remand the matter back to the

authority for fresh consideration.

4. In the result, the appeal stands disposed of by directing

the appellant to treat the order dated 21 st June, 2022 as a show

cause notice and a reply / further reply shall be submitted by

the appellant not later than 10th February, 2023 along with all

supporting documents in support of the contentions raised by the

appellant. On receipt of the said reply and the documents, the

adjudicating authority shall fix the date for personal hearing

and on the said date, the appellant shall appear without seeking

for any adjournment and make his submissions and the

adjudicating authority shall consider the explanations offered

and the documents and pass a speaking order on merits and in

accordance with law.

5. There shall be no order as to costs.

6. Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied

for, be furnished to the parties expeditiously upon compliance

of all legal formalities.

(T.S. SIVAGNANAM, J)

I agree,

(HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA, J.)

NAREN/PALLAB(AR.C)