IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 9^TH DAY OF MARCH, 2026 BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO. 21130 OF 2022 (T-RES)

BETWEEN:

M/S HIVELOOP TECHNOLOGY PRIVATE LIMITED A COMPANY INCORPORATED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE COMPANIES ACT 2013 NO.1090 G, 18^TH CROSS, 14^TH MAIN, SECTOR 3, HSR LAYOUT, BENGALURU – 560 102.

THROUGH ITS AUTHORISED REPRESENTATIVE, MR LALIT RAMAN C V.

…PETITIONER (BY SRI. TARUN GULATI, SENIOR COUNSEL FOR SRI. KISHORE KUNAL, SMT. ANKITA PRAKASH, SRI. ANUJ KUMAR AND SRI. PRADEEP NAYAK, ADVOCATES)

AND:

1. THE ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR Digitally signed by DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF GST INTELLIGENCE, CHANDANA BENGALURU ZONAL UNIT, B M DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF GST INTELLIGENCE, BENGALURU ZONAL UNIT, Location:

High Court OFFICE OF THE PRINICIPAL of Karnataka ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR GENERAL NO.112, S P ENCLAVE, ADJACENT TO KARNATAKA BANK K H ROAD, BENGALURU-560 027.

2. JOINT/ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL TAX CHENNAI SOUTH CENTRAL TAX COMMISSIONERATE 692, M H U COMPLEX ANNA SALAI, NANDANAM, CHENNAI-600 035.

Retyped and replaced vide Court order dated 16.04.2026

3. DEPUTY /ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL TAX SD 5 DIVISION BENGALURU SOUTH CENTRAL TAXES COMMISSIONERATE, BENGALURU-560 027.

4. THE COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER DGSTO-4, AUDIT 4.8, KARNATAKA COMMERCIAL TAXES DEPARTMENT, BANGALORE – 560 095.

5. THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF COMMERCIAL TAXES LGSTO-017, VTK-2, KORAMANGALA, SECOND STAGE, RAJENDRA NAGAR, BENGALURU – 560 047.

…RESPONDENTS (BY SRI. JEEVAN.J.NEERALGI, ADVOCATE FOR R-1 TO R-3 SMT. JYOTI.M.MARADI, HCGP FOR R-4 & R-5)

THIS W.P IS FILED UNDER ARITCLE 226 OF THE CONSTITUITON OF INDIA PRAYING TO QUASHING THE IMPUGNED SHOW CAUSE NOTICE DATED 19.09.2022 BEARING DIN NO.202209DSS0000000B050 AND REF NO.VA/75/2019 DGGI BZU/5749/2022(ANNEXURE-A) PASSED BY THE R1.

THIS PETITION IS BEING HEARD AND RESERVED ON 10.12.2025 COMING ON FOR PRONOUNCEMENT OF ORDERS THIS DAY, THE COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING:-

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR

CAV ORDER

In this petition, petitioner seeks quashing of the impugned show cause notice at Annexure-A dated 19.09.2022 issued by the respondents under Section 74(1) of the CGST / KGST Act and for other reliefs.

2. Briefly stated the facts giving rise to the present petition are as under:-

The petitioner, i.e., M/s.Hiveloop Technology Private Limited (HTPL) is a private limited company incorporated on 03.06.2016 and registered with the Karnataka GST authorities, which owns and operates an electronic commerce portal (e-commerce portal) under the name and style ‘www.udaan.com’, wherein the users registered on the said portal undertake business to business (B2B) transactions of sale and purchase of goods by accessing the portal. It is contended that during the relevant period, which is the subject matter of the impugned show cause notice (SCN), apart from granting access to the online portal, petitioner had not undertaken any other activity such as collection of payment, logistics, credit facility etc., and for such services, the online portal empanelled various service providers for rendering these optional services such as logistics and payment services and credit services etc., which may be availed by the users by entering into the direct contracts with the said service providers and alternatively, the users could also arrange for such services on their own by engaging service provider at their end and the users of the online platform can either procure these services from the said empanelled service providers or procure such services on their own from other non-empanelled service providers and in either of the cases neither is there any agreement nor is the petitioner responsible for the logistics, payment or credit services received by the users.

2.1 On 27.09.2017, one more private limited company under the name and style M/s.Hiveloop Logistics Private Limited (HLPL) was also incorporated as a company under the Companies Act, 2013 for providing logistics, w