High Court stays final order in GST matter

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 29

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the passing of the final order by the Excise and Taxation Officer, Chandigarh, on the basis of a notice issued by him. The show-cause notice demanding the GST was issued by the ETO to a Chandigarh-based taxpayer, assigned to the jurisdiction of the Centre and not the UT.

When the GST was ushered in, the GST Council mandated that taxpayers would be divided as per a computer programme between the Centre and the state tax authorities, ensuring that a single taxpayer would deal with only one set of officers — either the Centre or the state.

Before the GST rollout, the then Finance Minister stated that “each assessee would be assessed only by one authority,” after the GST Council agreed to the division of the taxpayer base.

The High Court was told that lack of consensus between states and the Centre had previously held up the GST rollout by April 1, 2017. Pursuant to the decision of the GST Council to divide the taxpayer base, the Centre and the UT issued a joint circular setting out the taxpayers to be assessed by the Centre and the UT, to ensure that one taxpayer dealt with only one set of officers.

The taxpayer challenged the show-cause notice issued by the ETO, through advocates BL Narasimhan and Amrinder Singh. It was argued that the notice was illegal as it was in contravention of the GST Council directions and the joint circular. Taking up the matter, the Bench of Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice Vikas Bahl directed the authorities not to pass a final order during the pendency of the case.