Indira Sreenivasan vs The State Tax Officer
2026 Latest Caselaw 935 Ker

Citation : 2026 Latest Caselaw 935 Ker
Judgement Date : 31 January, 2026

[Cites 2, Cited by 0]

Kerala High Court

Indira Sreenivasan vs The State Tax Officer on 31 January, 2026

WP(C) NO. 21403 OF 2023

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                                                    2026:KER:8379

              IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM

                              PRESENT

        THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HARISANKAR V. MENON

   SATURDAY, THE 31ST DAY OF JANUARY 2026 / 11TH MAGHA, 1947

                      WP(C) NO. 21403 OF 2023

PETITIONER:

          INDIRA SREENIVASAN,
          AGED 79 YEARS
          LEGAL HEIR OF THE LATE SRI. K.A. SREENIVASAN, VENU
          INDUSTRIES, PERUMBAVOOR ., PIN - 683542

          BY ADVS.
          SHRI.AJI V.DEV
          SRI.M.G.SHAJI
          SRI.ALAN PRIYADARSHI DEV
          SHRI.S.SAJEEVAN



RESPONDENTS:


    1     THE STATE TAX OFFICER,
          TAXPAYER SERVICES CIRCLE, STATE G.S.T DEPARTMENT,
          MINI CIVIL STATION, PERUMBAVOOR., PIN - 683542

    2     THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER (APPEALS),
          STATE G.S.T DEPARTMENT, STATE G.S.T COMPLEX,
          PERUMANOOR -P.O, ERNAKULAM (PRESENTLY REDESIGNATED
          AS JOINT COMMISSIONER OF STATE TAX APPEALS,
          ERNAKULAM, STATE GST DEPARTMENT, SGST COMPLEX,
          MATTANCHERRY, BAZAR ROAD, KOCHI-682002.

    3     THE JOINT COMMISSIONER,
          TAX PAYER SERVICES, STATE G.S.T DEPARTMENT, MINI
          CIVIL STATION, ALUVA -683101.
 WP(C) NO. 21403 OF 2023

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                                                 2026:KER:8379


    4     THE COMMISSIONER OF STATE TAX,
          TAX TOWER, KARAMANA, THIRUVANATHAPURAM-695 002.


          BY ADV SHRI.P.R.SREEJITH, SC, GSTN


OTHER PRESENT:

          SMT JASMINE,GP


     THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD ON
31.01.2026, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
 WP(C) NO. 21403 OF 2023

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                                JUDGMENT

The petitioner is the wife and legal heir of One

K.A.Sreenivasan, who was a registered dealer under the provisions

of the Kerala Value Added Tax Act, 2003 on the rolls of the 1 st

respondent herein. Admittedly, K.A.Sreenivasan having died during

November, 2011, the registration certificate was also canceled.

Even thereafter, the assessment order at Ext.P1 with respect to the

assessment year 2012-13 was passed against the petitioner herein

in her capacity as one of the legal heirs of the deceased essentially

contending that unaccounted sale to the tune of Rs.9,21,662/- was

effected from the registration of the deceased during the year 2012-

13. Output tax liability with respect to the above figure was sought

to be demanded along with interest by Ext.P1 order. An appeal was

preferred against the assessment order before the first appellate

authority contending that, after the death of the original assessee,

his son obtained a fresh registration and was continuing the

business and the transaction noticed in Ext.P1 was actually effected

by the son. The first appellate authority considered the afore

submission and issued an order at Ext.P2 finding as under:-

WP(C) NO. 21403 OF 2023

2026:KER:8379

"Heard the learned counsel of the appellant together with connected records and evidences produced and also available in the file. The main contention of the learned counsel was that in the case of sales suppression detected by the assessing authority for Rs.9,21,662/- the appellant verified the books of accounts and found that some of the sales were effected to M/s. TELK Angamaly from the new firm started by the son of the appellant having TIN 32151258641. At the time of entering the purchase bills in the KVATIS module by the purchasing company M/S.TELK, they entered TIN 32151347594 instead of TIN 32151258641. The new firm remitted the entire tax collected from the consignee M/s. TELK through the monthly returns filed. Copy of the declaration obtained from the M/s. TELK, Angamaly is also produced and verified. The assessing authority has not considered the matter at the time of finalization of assessment.

Hence the appeal is allowed and the assessing authority is directed to modify the assessment deleting the above sales turnover from the assessment since those belong to another dealer."

2. However, the assessing authority sought to issue the

notices at Exts.P3 and P3(a) directing the petitioner to appear for a

personal hearing along with "documents mentioned in appellate

order". However, since the petitioner did not respond, the assessing

authority issued Ext.P4 dated 22.05.2023 restoring the assessment

at Ext.P1. It is seeking to challenge Ext.P4 order issued as above

that the petitioner has instituted this writ petition.

WP(C) NO. 21403 OF 2023

2026:KER:8379

3. Heard Sri.Aji V.Dev, the learned counsel for the

petitioner, as well as Smt.Jasmine, the learned Government Pleader.

4. It is a sustainability or other wise of Ext.P4 that requires

to be considered in this writ petition. This Court notices that the

petitioner had contended before the first appellate authority that the

transactions for Rs.9,21,662/- happened to be effected by her son,

who continued the business with a new TIN No.32151258641.

However, the purchaser (M/s.TELK) had unfortunately shown the

TIN of the deceased in their accounts and that is why the

assessment came to be issued against the legal heir. This has been

positively found and the appellate authority by Ext.P2 has allowed

the appeal filed by the petitioner directing the assessing authority to

modify the assessment by "deleting the sales turnover" from the

assessment. The appellate authority also found that such an order is

required since turnover actually belongs to another dealer.

5. When such positive directions were issued, the

assessing authority could not have ventured to demand the

petitioner to produce further details through Exts.P3 and P3(a). This

Court also notices that the appellate order has been issued with WP(C) NO. 21403 OF 2023

2026:KER:8379

reference to the TIN number of the son as well as the TIN number

of the deceased. The officer, if he had any doubt, could have made

verifications by himself without issuing any notice to the petitioner

herein.

6. In any event, this Court notice that there was no

occasion for even issuing any notice to the petitioner and the 1 st

respondent could have only implemented the appellate order by

issuing a fresh assessment order accepting the directions issued by

the appellate authority. I am of the opinion that the petitioner is,

therefore, entitled to succeed. Though with reference to the

pleadings in the writ petition as well as the contents of the notices

at Exts.P3 and P3(a), I am of the opinion that costs are required to

be imposed, however, taking note of the persuasive submissions

made by Smt.Jasmine, the learned Government Pleader, this Court

refrains from imposing cost on the assessing authority.

Therefore, this writ petition would stand allowed setting

aside Ext.P4. Sd/-

HARISANKAR V. MENON JUDGE bng WP(C) NO. 21403 OF 2023

2026:KER:8379

APPENDIX OF WP(C) NO. 21403 OF 2023

PETITIONER EXHIBITS

EXHIBIT P1 TRUE COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF ASSESSMENT PASSED FOR THE YEAR 2012-13 DATED:

25.03.2019 EXHIBIT P2 TRUE COPY OF THE APPELLATE ORDER PASSED FOR THE YEAR 2012-13 DATED: 09.10.2020 EXHIBIT P3 TRUE COPY OF THE NOTICE ISSUED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT DIRECTING PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS FOR THE YEAR 2012-13 DATED:15.03.2023 EXHIBIT P3(A) TRUE COPY OF THE NOTICE ISSUED BY THE 1ST RESPONDENT DIRECTING PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS FOR THE YEAR 2012-13 DATED:27.04.2023 EXHIBIT P4 TRUE COPY OF THE FRESH ASSESSMENT ORDER PASSED FOR THE YEAR 2012-13 DATED: