APOLLO TYRES LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the show cause notice dtd. 2/8/2024 issued by respondent no.2 to the petitioner to centralise and show cause before respondent no.3 why CGST, SGST and IGST should not be demanded and recovered under Sec. 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act (CGST), State Goods and Services Tax Act (SGST) and Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act (IGST). The said show cause notice further directs the petitioner to show cause why interest under Sec. 50 of the CGST Act and the SGST Act should not be demanded and recovered in addition to the penalty under Sec. 74 of the CGST Act, SGST Act and Sec. 20 of the IGST Act. By this show cause notice, the issue pending before various State authorities, namely Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh etc. has been centralised and referred to respondent no.3 for adjudication.

(2.) Mr. Ochani, learned counsel for the respondents, raised a preliminary objection to the entertainability of the present petition at the stage of the show cause notice. He contends that this Court should not stop the adjudication of the show cause notice and the petitioner should be called upon to reply to the show cause notice and raise all the contentions, including the contention of limitation before respondent no.3. It is his submission that the petitioner can convince respondent no.3 and if respondent no.3 is satisfied with the submissions of the petitioner, then the show cause notice would be dropped and if he is not satisfied then appropriate order would be passed which can be challenged in appeal. Mr. Ochani strongly submitted that, at this stage, the petitioner should not be permitted to approach this Court in Writ Petition.

(3.) Mr. Joseph Kodianthara, learned senior counsel appearing through Video Conferencing, submitted that the show cause notice is issued beyond the period of one year and, therefore, the same is barred by limitation. It is his submission that the show cause notice has been issued to give retrospective effect to Circular No.212/6/2024 dtd. 26/6/2024 and, therefore, this Court should entertain at the stage of the show cause notice itself since conditions specified in the Circular cannot be complied with. The learned senior counsel also relied upon the decision of the Delhi High Court in the case of M/s. JSW Steel Limited Vs. Directorate General of GST Intelligence & Ors. [Writ Petition (C) NO.13769 of 2024 dtd. 1/10/2024] in support ofhis submission.