Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present petition has been filed by the Petitioner inter alia challenging the Orders-in-Original dated 14th January, 2025 and 3rd February, 2025 (hereinafter, ‘the impugned orders’) issued by the Office of the Commissioner, Central Tax, Delhi.

3. The allegation of the Petitioner is that the written submissions filed by the Petitioner have not been considered by the Respondent No. 1 and no personal hearing notice has been issued either.

4. On the previous of hearing, i.e., 2nd April, 2025, the Petitioner was directed to place on record the screenshot of the Goods and Services Tax (hereinafter, 'GST') portal to show that the written submissions were, in fact,

uploaded. The Respondent No.1- Department (hereinafter, the Department) was also directed to show the manner in which the personal hearing notice had been communicated to the Petitioner.

5. The screen shot of the GST portal has been placed on record by the Petitioner which shows that the submissions of the Petitioner is clearly uploaded on the portal. Insofar as the Department is concerned, it is submitted by the ld. Senior Standing Counsel that the personal hearing notice was sent by email on the registered email address of the Petitioner. However, this fact is disputed by the Petitioner as he says that the said email was never received. The email dated 23rd January, 2025 is also placed on record.

6. Clearly, there appears to have been a miscommunication in this matter. The Petitioner’s written submissions have not been perused by the Department and the Department’s email has not been received by the Petitioner.

7. Further, this Court has considered the reply dated 18th August, 2024 filed by the Petitioner to the show cause notice dated 4th December, 2023 issued by the Department. The said reply is extremely detailed in nature and also seeks to explain the difference in the Input Tax Credit (hereinafter, ‘ITC’) claimed by the Petitioner. The impugned orders, however, unfortunately record that no reply has been filed by the Petitioner. The relevant portions of the impugned orders are extracted herein below:

Order-in-Original dated 14th January, 2025:

“27. WRITTEN SUBMISSION OF THE NOTICEE

The Noticee did not submit any reply to the Show Cause Notice No.23/2023-24 issued vide C. No. DL-CT /CGST(W)/Pit/R- 102/Scrutiny/Raj Kumar/288/2022-23 dated 04.12.2023 by the Additional Commissioner, CGST Delhi West Commissionerate.

29. DISCUSSIONS AND FINDINGS:

29.1 I have carefully gone through the facts of the entire case as brought out in the Show Cause Notice and the material available on records. As per records, no written reply to the Show Cause Notice was filed by the noticee. I also note that neither noticee nor their authorized representative appeared for personal hearing to produce any evidence on which they intend to rely upon in support of their defence.

29.2 I have further noticed that during investigation or scrutiny of the case, the Noticee was accorded opportunities to submit relevant details/ documents but they did not submit any record or reply in their defence. Similarly, during adjudication proceedings, noticee neither appeared for personal hearing nor produced any evidence on which they intend to rely upon in support of their defence. Therefore, I am left with no option other than to decide the Show Cause Notice on the basis of evidence available on record.”

Order-in-Original dated 3rd February, 2025

“16. WRITTEN SUBMISSION OF THE NOTICEES

Out of 14 noticees, 04 noticees made written submission but the rest of the noticee(s) did not submit any reply to the Show Cause Notice No. 170/2024-25 issued vide C. No. GEXCOM/AE/FU/2175/2023- AE-CGST DELHI(W)/Group-3 dated 31.07.2024 issued by the Additional Commissioner, CGST Delhi West Commissionerate.

17. DETAILS OF PERSONAL HEARING:

The personal hearings were granted to the Noticees to appear on 14.11.2024, 03.12.2024 and 27.12.2024 through