The court held that challenges to tax adjudications must be brought before the Appellate Authority rather than through writ petitions, affirming the alternative remedy available under the GST Act.

ORDER :

BHARGAV D. KARIA, J.

1 Heard learned advocate Mr.Anandodaya Mishra, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.Deepak Khanchandani, learned counsel for the respondent.

2 By this petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the Order-in-Original dated 03.02.2025 passed by the Adjudicating Authority on the ground that it is without jurisdiction and authority of law and against the principles of natural justice.

3 The brief facts of the case are as under:

3.1 The petitioner is engaged in manufacturing of the pharmaceutical products falling under Chapter Heading 30043919 and 30049059.

3.2 The Assistant Commissioner of the C.G.S.T issued “notice for conducting audit” dated 23.08.2023, whereby, the petitioner was asked to furnish Purchase Register along with invoices for the entire audit period from 01.07.2017 to 31.03.2022.

3.3 In response to the said notice, the petitioner, by E-mail dated 19.10.2023 submitted the documents. However, the Purchase Registers submitted by the petitioner was without invoice number of the supplier but, voucher numbers were reflected in a running format.

3.4 Thereafter, the petitioner was informed by E-mail dated 09.11.2023 about initiation of the audit and also was requested to provide reconciliation and clarification including the Purchase Register for the entire audit period. It is the case of the respondent that repeated request for providing properly formatted Purchase Register and year-wise invoices were made but the same were ignored.

3.5 By a letter dated 19.02.2024, again the petitioner was requested to provide invoice wise ITC details. The petitioner submitted ITC Register for only two quarters on 21.02.2024 but not in the prescribed format and without any further submissions for subsequent period.

3.6 The respondent, thereafter, issued the notice in Form GST DRC-01A on 18.07.2024 under Sec.74(5) of the CGST Act, 2017, quantifying the amount of tax/interest/penalty payable by the petitioner under Sec.74(1) read with section 50 and section 122 of the CGST Act, read with section 20 of the IGST Act along with the grounds for such quantification, which reads as under:-

3.7 The petitioner submitted the reply to notice in Form GST DRC 01A on 01.08.2024. The respondent also uploaded the Audit Report dated 01.08.2024 on the basis of the examination of accounts and records of the petitioner for the period from July, 2017 to March,2022.

3.8 The respondent, thereafter, issued the show-cause notice dated 02.08.2024 under Sec.74(1) of the GST Act read with Sec.20 of the IGST Act in Form DRC-01 based upon audit objections raised in the Audit Report. The petitioner, by letter dated 06.08.2024, addressed to the Principal Commissioner (Audit), made a grievance against the issuance of the show-cause notice dated 02.08.2024. Thereafter, a corrigendum was issued to the show-cause notice dated 02.08.2024 by substituting para 6.1,6.2,6.3 para 14 and exh.8 to the show-cause notice. Further corrigendum dated 09.08.2024 was issued on 14.08.2024 to correct the Final Audit Report No. 12/2024-25 dated 01