GST & Central Excise Superintendent Has No Jurisdiction To Pass Order Exceeding Rs.10,00,000: Allahabad High Court

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has quashed the order by the GST and Central Excise Superintendent for lack of jurisdiction.

The bench of Justice Alok Mathur has observed that according to the circular dated February 9, 2018 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, and Department of Revenue, the power of the Superintendent, Central Goods and Service Tax, and Central Excise is limited to the matter not exceeding Rs. 10,00,000, and in the present case, the amount involved is more than Rs. 16,00,000, and consequently, the order passed by it is without jurisdiction.

The petitioner has challenged the order passed under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act), which was passed by the Superintendent of Central Goods and Services Tax and Central Excise.

The petitioner contended that the order passed by the Superintendent, Central Goods and Services Tax, and Central Excise did not have jurisdiction to pass in light of the circular dated 9.2.2018 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, and Department of Revenue.

The petitioner contended that the Superintendent, Central Goods and Service Tax, and Central Excise did not have jurisdiction to pass such an order. The respondents department themselves issued an order on February 9, 2018 assigning jurisdiction to various authorities in relation to the maximum amount of central tax not paid, short paid, erroneously refunded, or input tax credit of central tax wrongly availed or utilized.

The department contended that the order is not proper to the extent that it was not passed by a proper officer as per Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST dated February 9, 2018, as the monetary limit of the input tax credit wrongly availed or utilized by the central tax is Rs. ten lakhs and the state tax is Rs. ten lakhs, totaling to Rs. twenty lakhs for the issuance of show cause notices and the passing of orders under Sections 73 and 74 of the CGST Act.

The court held that the order is without jurisdiction and is accordingly set aside.

The court granted the respondent department the liberty to proceed afresh in accordance with law.

Counsel For Petitioner: Dheeraj Srivastava

Counsel For Respondent: A.S.G.I.

Case Title: M/S Mansoori Enterprises vs. U.O.I. 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 119

Case citation: 2024 LiveLaw (AB) 119 

Case No.: Writ Tax No. - 35 Of 2024

Click Here To Read The Order