The High Court will not exercise its writ jurisdiction to entertain a petition if the petitioner has failed to invoke the alternative efficacious statutory remedy within the prescribed limitation period, as doing so would undermine the legislative intent.

Order on Board

1. The petitioner has filed this petition(WPT No. 59 of 2026) challenging the order was passed by the Assistant Commissioner, State Tax, Raipur under the provisions of Section 73 of Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 dated 21.12.2021, whereby demand notice to the tune of Rs. 7,10,397/- was issued.

2. The petitioner has filed this petition(WPT No. 60 of 2026) challenging the order was passed by the Assistant Commissioner, State Tax, Raipur under the provisions of Section 73 of Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 dated 22.12.2023, whereby demand notice to the tune of Rs. 31,81,567/- was issued.

3. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that without affording opportunity of hearing the orders impugned were passed by the Assistant Commissioner. She would submit that as no opportunity of hearing was afforded, orders are bad in law.

4. On the other hand, learned counsel appearing for the State would submit that the petitioner has approached this Court after lapse of five years and 3 years respectively from date of orders. She would submit that the petitioner has not explained delay part properly. It is also contend that the petitioner has taken a plea that the Charted Accountant did not communicate the order to the petitioner, therefore, impugned orders could not be challenged before this Court. She would submit that the stand taken by the petitioner is not tenable.

5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the documents placed on record.

6. Admittedly, impugned orders were passed on 21.12.2021 and 22.12.2023 respectively. The petitioner has filed these two petitions challenging those orders on 01.04.2026. The period of limitation prescribed under Section 107 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 is 3 months + 1 month, whereas, the petitioner has approached this Court after couple of years. This Court cannot disregard the statutory period for redressal of the grievance and entertain the writ petition of such a party as a matter of course.

7. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Assistant Commissioner (CT) LTU, Kakinada and Others vs. Glaxo Smith Kline Consumer Health Care Limited reported in (2020) 19 SCC 681, while dealing with the similar issue in para 19 held as under :-

“19. We may now revert to the Full Bench decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Electronics Corporation of India Ltd.¹Electronics Corpn. Of India Ltd. v. Union of India, 2018 SCC OnLine Hyd 21, which had adopted the view taken by the Full Bench of the Gujarat High Court in Panoli Intermediate (India) Pvt. Ltd. vs. Union of India & Ors.²2015 SCC OnLine Guj 570 and also of the Karnataka High Court in Phoenix Plasts Company vs. Commissioner of Central Excise ³2013 SCC OnLine Kar 10432. The logic applied in these decisions proceeds on fallacious premise. For, these decisions are premised on the logic that provision such as Section 31 of the 1995 Act, cannot curtail the jurisdiction of the High Court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution. This approach is faulty. It is not a matter of taking away the jurisdiction of the High Court. In a given case, the assessee may approach the High Court before the statutory period of appeal expires to challenge the assessment order by way of writ petition on the ground that the same is without jurisdiction or passed in excess of jurisdiction by overstepping or crossing the limits of jurisdiction including in flagrant disregard of law and rules of procedure or in violation of principles of nat