High Court
Legal Heirs Not Assessees Under Service Tax; Proceedings Abate After Death: Orissa High Court
The Orissa High Court has recently held that legal heirs of an individual service provider cannot be treated as assessees under the service tax law and that proceedings abate upon the assessee's death even if a show cause notice was issued earlier. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Murahari Sri Raman set aside a service tax demand raised against the deceased assessee, observing that the Finance Act, 1994, does not authorise the tax department to proceed against legal...
Differential GST On Pre-GST Works Contracts To Be Reimbursed By State Agencies: Karnataka High Court
The Karnataka High Court ruled that the additional GST liability arising out of the shift from the pre-GST VAT (Value Added Tax) regime to the GST regime in ongoing works contracts cannot be imposed on contractors.The bench consists of Justice M Nagaprasanna, who directed the State Departments and government agencies to reimburse the differential GST to contractors.All the contracts were awarded prior to July 2017 under the KVAT regime, where the contract rates factored in VAT and...
Gauhati High Court Rejects Bail Plea In ₹8.59 Crore GST Fraud Case
The Gauhati High Court has recently denied bail to a petitioner in Rs. 8.59-crore fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) scam, observing that the allegations disclose an organized and well-planned fraud involving misuse of the GST system. A bench comprising Justice Pranjal Das noted that custodial interrogation was necessary as the investigation was at a crucial stage and that granting bail could hamper efforts to unearth the larger conspiracy. Bahadur Islam, the petitioner, was arrested for alleged...
Procuring Authority Liable For Differential GST In Government Contracts: Madras High Court Reiterates
Reiterating that additional GST arising from the rollout of the GST regime in government works contracts must be borne by the procuring authority, the Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Housing Board to consider a contractor's claim for reimbursement of differential tax.A Bench of Justice N Sathish Kumar relying on settled law, held that contractors cannot be fastened with liability for differential GST, interest, or penalties when tax was discharged strictly in accordance...
Kerala General Sales Tax Act | Once Limitation Lapses, Assessment Cannot Be Revived: Kerala High Court
The Kerala High Court has held that assessment proceedings initiated beyond the statutory limitation period under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 (KGST Act), are unsustainable in law and liable to be set aside. Justice Harisankar V. Menon noted that the pre-assessment notice under Section 17(3) of the KGST Act was issued against Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. for the assessment year 2007–08 only on August 25, 2017. The assessment order was passed later, on January 28, 2019. This was...
GST Notices And Orders Issued Only In Summary Forms Without Details Are Unsustainable: Calcutta High Court
The Calcutta High Court has quashed a GST adjudication order passed solely through summary online forms, holding that tax liability cannot be imposed without clearly setting out the allegations and reasons as required under law. A single-judge bench of Justice Om Narayan Rai said the manner in which the proceedings were conducted could not be sustained. “The order that has been passed and communicated to the petitioner has remained in summary form. It is bereft of any detail and sans any...
GST Authorities Cannot Pass Orders Against Deceased Taxpayer, Recover From Heirs: Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court has held that while GST law allows proceedings to be pursued against a legal heir after the death of a taxpayer, authorities cannot determine tax liability in the name of a deceased person and then recover it from the heir. The court ruled that Section 93 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, permits recovery from legal representatives only after a valid determination against them, and not through orders passed against a dead assessee. A bench of Justice Shekhar B...
No Statutory Mechanism To Revise GST Return For ITC: HP High Court Allows Manual Filing Of Monthly Return
In the absence of any statutory mechanism under the GST law to revise or correct GSTR-3B, the monthly GST return used to declare tax liability and claim Input Tax Credit, a taxpayer cannot be left without a remedy for a bona fide mistake, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has held. A division bench of Justices Vivek Singh Thakur and Romesh Verma allowed a registered taxpayer to file the GSTR-3B return manually for the quarter ending March 2021 so that its unclaimed Input Tax Credit (ITC) could be...
Can Service Tax Be Levied On Transfer of Development Rights? Delhi High Court To Decide
The Delhi High Court on Monday took up a Revenue appeal that squarely raises the question of whether the transfer of development rights constitutes a taxable service under the Finance Act, 1994. A Division Bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Ajay Digpaul issued notice in an appeal filed by the Service Tax Department against an order of the Delhi Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), which had quashed a service tax demand of nearly Rs 5 crore raised on a real estate...
Delhi High Court Allows Use Of Transitional CENVAT Credit For Mandatory Pre-Deposit Before CESTAT
The Delhi High Court, in a 'rare' scenario where an appeal was sought to be admitted before the CESTAT on the strength of pre-deposit made using through DRC-03, has clarified that pre-deposit was partial component of the demand just as tax, interest and penalty. In a recent judgment dated December 22, 2025, the Delhi High Court dealt with whether CENVAT credit transitioned into the GST regime as on July 01, 2017 could be utilised for the purpose of making pre-deposit or not. A ...
Tax Paid During Probe Must Be Refunded Once No Liability Found: Chhattisgarh High Court Allows Service Tax Refund
The High Court of Chhattisgarh has allowed a service tax appeal filed by an assessee, setting aside orders passed by the department and the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) which had rejected a refund claim as time-barred under Section 102(3) of the Finance Act, 1994 . A Division Bench of Justice Rajani Dubey and Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad was hearing an appeal challenging CESTAT's order that denied refund of ₹14.89 lakh deposited by the assessee during...
Levy Of Service Tax On 'Access To Amusement Facilities' Unconstitutional: Kerala High Court
The Kerala High Court held that the levy of service tax on 'access to amusement facilities' is unconstitutional, as the entire activity squarely falls within the State's taxing power under Entry 62 of List II (entertainments and amusements) of the Constitution of India.Justices A. Muhamed Mustaque and Harisankar V. Menon stated that the provisions of the Entertainments Tax Act also seek to impose tax on the entire consideration received by the assessee from their clients/customers. The question...