ORAL JUDGMENT

(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA)

1. By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the notice dated 30.8.2023 issued by the respondent No.1 in Form GST DRC- 01 under Sections 74(1), 122(2) and 125 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 (for short ‘the GST Act’) read with Rule 142(1) of the Central Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017 (for short ‘the GST Rules’) for Financial Year 2017-18 and 2018-19 and the order in original dated 28.12.2023 passed by the respondent No.1 confirming the demand of unpaid tax on Reverse Charge Mechanism (for short ‘RCM’) on purchase of cotton from agriculturist amounting to Rs.3,73,95,300/- along with the penalty of equal amount under Section 122(2) of the GST Act.

2. Brief facts of the case are as under :

2.1 The petitioner is a partnership firm engaged into the trading and supplying of the cotton bales on wholesale basis. It is the case of the petitioner that 80% of the total turn-over is earmarked for the purpose of export.

2.2 The petitioner purchases raw cotton from the registered dealers upon upfront payment of 5% GST on the invoice price.

2.3 According to the petitioner