Delhi High Court Imposes ₹1 Lakh Cost On Senior Citizen Who Failed To Attend Personal Hearing Over ₹1.95 Crore GST Demand

The Delhi High Court has directed the Customs Department to grant one more opportunity to a septuagenarian woman, who failed to appear for personal hearing in connection with ₹1,95,11,160 demand raised against her firm.The Petitioner is the sole proprietor of the firm, who has a dealership agreement with M/s. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited in respect of domestic & commercial Liquified Petroleum Gas for a period of 10 years. A notice was issued to the Petitioner's firm relating to certain discrepancies in GST returns filed by it. The firm was asked to explain within ten days alleged short-payment of tax of ₹97,53,080/- for the period 01st April, 2019 to 31st March, 2020.Personal hearing notices were issued on 30th July, 2024, 06th August, 2024 and 13th August, 2024. However, the Petitioner neither replied to the notice or the SCN nor did she attend the personal hearing. Subsequently, demand of ₹97,53,080/- along with penalty of ₹5000/- and ₹9,75,308/- was raised.The Petitioner challenged the demand order on the ground that she, being a senior citizen, was suffering from an 'acute kidney' condition due to which she failed to file a reply. It was submitted that from 2022, she is suffering from this condition and hence, her case may be considered with some leniency.The division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Shail Jain, “considering the medical condition of the Petitioner firm's proprietor which prevented her from filing a reply to the notices or appearing for the personal hearing”, was of the view that the matter deserves to be heard on merits, “subject to payment of Rs. 1,00,000/- as costs”.Appearance: Ms. Nidhi Mohan Parashar, Mr. Pranav Sarthi, Mr. Amar Bajpayee and Ms. Aditi Vishnoi, Advs. for Petitioner; Mr. Gibran Naushad, SSC with Mr. Harsh Singhal, Mr. Suraj Shekhar Singh, Advs. for RespondentCase title: M/S Ganga Enterprises v. Assistant Commissioner, CGST, Delhi East CommissionerateCitation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 1588Case no.: W.P.(C) 16741/2025Click here to read order

Delhi High Court Imposes ₹1 Lakh Cost On Senior Citizen Who Failed To Attend Personal Hearing Over ₹1.95 Crore GST Demand

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