CA Moves Supreme Court Seeking Implementation Of DIN System For All Communications Of GST Officials

On July 11, 2022, a Chartered Accountant filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court asking for guidance on how to implement a system of electronic (digital) generation of Document Identification Numbers (DIN) for all communications sent by GST officers to taxpayers and other concerned parties. The Supreme Court requested the Central Government’s response.

The Bench of Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna took into account the arguments made by the petitioner’s attorney and noted that as of right now, only two states—Karnataka and Kerala—have the DIN system in place, while the other States have not yet done so.

The petition asks for instructions from the GST Council to consider and make a policy decision regarding implementation by all states, in addition to directing respondents to take action to implement the DIN system. It also asks for instructions to be given to the Central Government to implement centralised DIN for the entire nation.

According to the petition, a circular from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) dated December 23, 2019, makes it essential for all communications delivered by any office of the Board to taxpayers and other interested individuals to include the DIN.

According to the petition, doing so goes against the goals of accountability and openness in the administration of indirect taxes. The petition also mentions that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs recently required the mention of the Service Request Number (SRN) in all correspondence with companies, limited liability partnerships, their officials, auditors, etc. The government has implemented the DIN system in the direct tax administration, according to a press release from the Finance Ministry dated November 7, 2019. The Ministry had further noted that further forward, any communication from the GST, Customs or Central Excise Department without a computer-generated DIN will be deemed invalid and non-existent in law.

Before this, the petitioner filed an RTI application before the CPIO, GST Council and found out that no directions have been passed by it in respect to the implementation of the system of DIN generation on communications sent by state tax offices.

The petition has also sent a communication to the PMO and filed several RTIs to obtain information with respect to States. As per the response received, Delhi and Maharashtra have no such system in place.

The petition avers that “when the tagline of GST is “one nation one tax” then issuance of DIN should be made compulsory for both CGST and SGST departments.” The petition submits that DIN is a 20-digit unique number generated digitally in an alphanumeric code.

The following are the benefits of DIN listed in the petition:

-In order to preserve an accurate audit trail of communications delivered to taxpayers and other concerned parties, it produces a digital directory.

-It gives the recipient of such communication a digital tool to verify the communication’s veracity.

-It guarantees openness in all interactions with the department. The use of a document identifying number confirms the validity of such notices and shields a taxpayer from pointless annoyance.

To Read Judgment Download PDF Given Below: