GST Notice Must Identify Issuing Officer: Allahabad HC Quashes Portal-Generated GST Cancellation Order

The Allahabad High Court quashed an order cancelling the GST registration of the taxpayer, citing its own judgement in an earlier case based on a similar issue. The court rules that the power to issue notices lies with authorised officers, not with an automated system, under the GST law.

The present writ petition has been filed by Dev Shree Dairy against the GST authorities in the Allahabad High Court, challenging an order dated October 25, 2024, which had cancelled the petitioner’s GST registration under the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The case was heard by the division bench comprising Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Indrajeet Shukla.

The cancellation was based on a system-generated notice dated September 04, 2024, issued through the GST portal. The petitioner argued that the notice was not legally justified because it did not contain the name or designation of any issuing authority and only mentioned that it was “system-generated”.

During the hearing of the case, the court cited its own earlier ruling in the case titled M/s M Y Ent Bhatta Vs State of U.P., based on a similar issue, where the court clarified that the power to issue notices lies with authorised officers, not with an automated system under the GST law. Hence, a system-generated notice not mentioning the name or designation of the issuing authority cannot be considered valid as per the law.

Defending the aforesaid court’s ruling, the tax authorities cited an advisory issued by the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), which underlined that it is not compulsory for system-issued documents to always carry digital signatures of the issuing officer; this is because officers already log in to the system using digital authentication. However, the court held that this explanation cannot justify a notice that does not even identify the issuing authority.

Considering the aforementioned findings, they quashed the impugned order dated October 25, 2024, and the preceding system-generated notice dated September 04, 2024. However, the authorities were given the liberty to issue a fresh notice in accordance with the law if they wish to proceed further.