No Technical Flaw If GST Orders Lack Visible Signatures; Digital Key Authentication Sufficient: Delhi High Court

The Central Goods and Services Tax Department recently explained to the Delhi High Court the process its officers follow when uploading any show cause notice or order on the GST portal. The explanation was tendered in response to a plea filed before the Court, challenging the legality of a demand order on the ground that the impugned SCN and the impugned order were not duly signed either physically or digitally.

The Department now uses digital keys to upload orders on the GST Portal, and without the digital key of the concerned officer, the orders as well as the SCNs cannot be uploaded.

Counsel for the Petitioner argued that the non-appending of the signatures on the impugned SCN and the impugned order would go to the root of the matter.

The High Court, however, held that since a digital key is mandatorily required to upload both the SCN and the orders, it cannot be held that there is any technical discrepancy in the signatures. It observed,

“The note filed on behalf of the Department clearly states that even though the PDF documents downloaded from the GST portal may not show a physical signature impression, it is generated only after a thorough authentication of the proper officer…Thus, this Court is of the view that the argument raised by the Petitioner with respect to the impugned order and SCN being unsigned is untenable.”

It added, “since the SCNs and orders are now uploaded through the GST portal only through the digital key of the concerned officer, as also because the orders and SCNs bear the name of the officer and the designation of the officer, the authenticity and genuinity of the order cannot be disputed, unless there is a misuse of the digital key.”

Detailing the process, the Department submitted:

i. All orders and notices issued by tax authorities are uploaded electronically to the common portal and authenticated using a Digital Key/Signature which contains the credentials of the proper officer including his name, designation and jurisdiction.

ii. As per the mandate of Rule 26(3) of the CGST Rules, 2017, all notices, certificates, and orders are to be issued electronically. Such service of notices, certificates and orders is made available to the taxpayer by uploading the same on the GST portal.

iii. A proper officer can log in to the GST portal by using his/her Digital Key/Signature followed by a system generated OTP which is sent by the GST portal to the registered mobile number of the proper officer.

iv. It is only after such authentication that the proper officer permits the system to generate the document (e.g., Show Cause Notices in FORM GST DRC-01, Orders in FORM GST DRC-07) and the same is stored with the proper officer's digital signature in the system.

Appearance: Mr. Sahil A Garg Narwana, Ms. Amnaya Jagannath Mishra, Mr. Dinesh Singhal, Mr. Kapil Gola and Ms. Honey Gola, Advs. for Petitioner; Mr Akash Verma, Sr. Standing Counsel, CBIC with Ms Aanchal Uppal, Adv. for R-1. Mr. Sumit K. Batra, Adv. for Respondents

Case title: M/S Swarn Cosmetics (India) v. Union Of India & Ors.

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 1499

Case no.: W.P.(C) 16532/2025

Click here to read order