Court ruled that bona fide mistakes in GST returns, especially during early implementation, warrant rectification to prevent undue revenue loss.

ORDER :

S. R. KRISHNA KUMAR, J.

1. In this Petition, petitioner seeks the following reliefs:

"WHEREFORE it is humbly prayed that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to:

A. Issue a Writ of certiorari or any other appropriate Writ/order/ direction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India calling for the records pertaining to the Petitioner case and after going into the validity and legality thereof to quash and set aside impugned notice and impugned audit report as in contravention to provisions of the CGST/KGST Act; Vide Annexure-A-1 bearing NO. ACCT b fe-A-2 Annexure. bearing No. ACCT (A)- 26/T-No. 2022-23.

B. Issue a Writ of certiorari or any other appropriate Writ/order/ direction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India calling for the records pertaining to the Petitioner case and after going into the validity and legality thereof to quash and set aside impugned notice and impugned audit report as the same are passed without considering the petitioners amendments.

C. Issue a Writ of certiorari or any other appropriate Writ/order/ direction under Article 227 of the Constitution of India calling for the records pertaining to the Petitioner case and after going into the validity and legality thereof to quash and set aside impugned notice and impugned audit report as they are levying the tax on turnover of outward supply which were never affected by the petitioners.

D. Issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to read down the provisions of Section 37(3) of the CGST/KGST Act, 2017 shall be read down in a manner that the amendment done by the petitioner is valid, in facts and circumstances of present case; vide Annexure- A-1 bearing No. ACCT(A)-26/2022-23 30-9-2012 Dirtbeating beautiny ACCT (A)-261 T.No. 2022.23

E. Issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India ordering and directing the Respondent No. 3 by himself, his subordinates, servants and agents, pending disposal of the present petition, not to initiate any coercive action or recovery of tax, interest and penalty based on impugned notice and impugned audit report and stay the same thereof till the pendency of the present petition.

F. Pass an order granting the Petitioner the costs of this Petition.

G. For such and other reliefs as the nature and circumstances of the case may require."

2. A perusal of the material on record will indicate that the petitioner having filed returns for the period July, 2017 to March, 2018, subsequently realised that there was errors in the GSTR1 and what should have been declared as B2C instead of B2B and accordingly, made necessary corrections on 06.05.2019. It is the grievance of the petitioner that despite the petitioner being entitled to make such corrections and also having made such corrections, the respondent No. 3 has issued the impugned show cause notice under Section 73(1) of the KGST Act on the ground that the petitioner was not entitled to make such corrections and consequently, purported to initiate appropriate proceedings against the petitioner, who is before this Court by way of the present petition.

3. Per contra, CGC appearing for respondent No.1 and learned AGA appearing for respondent Nos. 2 and 3 submits that there is no merit in the petition and the same is liable to be dismissed.

4. The issue/question has to whether the petitioner/taxpayer/assessee would be entitled to make corrections in the GSTR3B, came up for consideration before this Court in the case of Orient Traders vs. Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit) 3, 4 DGSTO-3, (2023) 3 Centax 63(Kar) wherein, it is held as under:

"In this petition, petitioner has sought for the following reliefs:-

“i) Issue a Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondent No.1 to allow the Petitioner to rectify the GST returns filed for the months of July, 2017 and March, 2018;

ii) Consequently, Issue a Writ of Certiorari, quashing t