Gujarat High Court
Gujarat High Court Quashes GST Demand Against Deceased Proprietor, Says Legal Heir Must Be Properly Heard
The Gujarat High Court has held that GST proceedings initiated against a deceased taxpayer cannot be sustained when the legal heir was neither made a noticee nor given a meaningful opportunity to respond, quashing proceedings initiated against a proprietor who had died several years earlier. A Division Bench comprising Justices A.S. Supehia and Vaibhavi D. Nanavati allowed a petition filed by Ushaben Kalpeshbhai Patni, the wife of the deceased proprietor, Kalpeshbhai Ramubhai Patni, and quashed...
Customs Cannot Indefinitely Detain Goods Through Panchnama To Reset Limitation: Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court on 25 August held that Customs authorities cannot use a Panchnama to indefinitely restrain goods and later issue a formal seizure order to bypass the time limits under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962, ruling that the limitation period starts from the date of detention if the mandatory order under the provision was not passed. A Division Bench comprising Justices A.S. Supehia and Vaibhavi D. Nanavati held that the vehicle belonging to petitioner Pranavbhai Ambalal...
Gujarat High Court Grants ₹1 Crore Tax Refund To Charitable Trust After Exemption Was Omitted
The Gujarat High Court on 25 August quashed the rejection of the revision application filed by Sheth Shree Karshandas Halu Dharamshala Jamnagar and held that the public charitable trust was entitled to exemption under Section 11(1A) of the Income-tax Act.A Division Bench comprising Justices A.S. Supehia and Vaibhavi D. Nanavati held that a bona fide omission to claim a statutory tax benefit in the original return can be corrected through revisional proceedings under Section 264 of the Act. The...
AO Can't Reopen Scrutinised Issue On Mere Change Of Opinion Without Tangible Material: Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court on 19 August held that an Assessing Officer (AO) cannot reopen an assessment on an issue already specifically examined during the original scrutiny merely on a change of opinion, unless fresh tangible material shows that income had escaped assessment because of suppression of material facts. A Division Bench of Justices A.S. Supehia and Vaibhavi D. Nanavati allowed a writ petition filed by Loonchand Dhanraj HUF and quashed the reassessment proceedings initiated through a...
Gujarat High Court Quashes GST Orders Based On AI-Generated Non-Existent Case Laws
The Gujarat High Court on 20 August quashed GST cancellation and appellate proceedings against Faiz Enterprise after finding that the State Tax Officer had relied exclusively on AI-generated case laws, including non-existent and irrelevant authorities. A Division Bench comprising Justices A.S. Supehia and Vaibhavi D. Nanavati held that adjudication proceedings cannot be sustained where an authority relies on unverified AI-generated case laws instead of independently applying its mind to the...
Gujarat High Court Quashes Reassessment Against Adani Exports For AY 2010-11
The Gujarat High Court has quashed reassessment proceedings against Adani Exports for AY 2010-11. It found that the Assessing Officer had relied on an unamended partnership deed while reopening the assessment, despite the assessee having specifically informed him that the deed had been amended to remove the obligation to pay interest on partners' capital.A Division Bench comprising Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Vaibhavi D. Nanavati held that the amended partnership deed expressly provided...
Merely Because No Income Was Booked, Business Expenses Cannot Be Disallowed: Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court has recently ruled that expenses incurred on business projects cannot be disallowed merely because no income was booked against them for the relevant year. The court noted that if the Revenue's case was that no income had been booked, it had to determine whether the assessee had failed to account for that income or had not treated a particular receipt as income.“Merely because no income has been booked against the same, it would not result into disallowance of such...
Gujarat High Court Rejects Bus Owner's Plea Over ₹53 Lakh Vehicle Tax Demand For Lack Of Non-Use Certificate
The Gujarat High Court has rejected a bus owner's plea against a ₹53.20 lakh vehicle tax demand, holding that the statutory presumption of use in Gujarat applied because he had not obtained a certificate declaring the bus as unused.A Division Bench comprising Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Vaibhavi D. Nanavati held that Section 3(2) of the Gujarat Motor Vehicles Tax Act, 1958, creates a deeming fiction unless the prescribed authority certifies that a vehicle was not used or kept for use in the...
Gujarat High Court Declares Pre-October 2023 GST Levy On Related Persons' Corporate Guarantees Unconstitutional
The Gujarat High Court has declared unconstitutional the levy of GST on corporate guarantees furnished by one related company on behalf of another before October 26, 2023, holding that the retrospective levy violates fundamental rights.However, the court held that GST can be levied from that date where such corporate guarantees continue.While upholding the constitutionality of Rule 28(2) of the CGST Rules read it down by removing the expression “whichever is higher” from the prescribed valuation...
GST Appellate Authorities Presumed To Know Government Notifications, Can't Ignore Them: Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court has held that a taxpayer who filed a GST appeal before the January 31, 2024 cut-off cannot be denied the benefit of a special procedure introduced to allow appeals affected by limitation. The procedure permitted eligible taxpayers to file appeals against orders under Sections 73 and 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act by January 31, 2024, subject to prescribed payment conditions.The Division Bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Vaibhavi D. Nanavati made the...
IT Dept. Cannot Cite Website Functionality To Avoid Withdrawing Order Passed In Defiance Of Court: Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court has recently quashed reassessment proceedings against a charitable trust after the Revenue told the court that its tax portal had no functionality to withdraw an assessment order once it had been passed and accounted for. The assessment order was passed despite an interim order restraining the Assessing Officer from doing so.A Division Bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Vaibhavi D. Nanavati ruled, "Revenue cannot cite the excuse of nonavailability of any...
MSME Council Cannot Decide Post-Award Enforcement Disputes: Gujarat High Court
The Gujarat High Court on 6 August, held that a Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council becomes functus officio after passing an arbitral award and cannot thereafter adjudicate disputes concerning enforcement of the award or determine whether the awarded amount has been fully paid. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D.N. Ray modified a Single Judge's order directing the Madhya Pradesh MSME Facilitation Council to reconsider Mahakali Foods Pvt. Ltd.'s...