Composite show-cause notice and consequential orders covering

Composite show-cause notice and consequential orders covering multiple financial years under Section 73 are invalid.

Issue

Whether the Revenue can issue a single consolidated Show-Cause Notice (SCN) and pass a composite assessment order covering multiple financial years under Section 73 of the CGST/KSGST Act.

Facts

Consolidated SCN Issued: For the assessment periods 2018–2019 to 2021–2022, the petitioner received a consolidated show-cause notice (Ext.P1) under Section 73 covering four distinct financial years.
Consequential Orders Passed: Pursuant to the composite SCN, the respondents passed an Order-in-Original (Ext.P4) along with a summary order (Ext.P5) confirming demands across all four years in a single order.
Legal Challenge: The petitioner challenged the legality of the consolidated notice and consequential orders, relying on binding Division Bench judgments establishing that separate notices must be issued for each assessment year.
Revenue’s Defense: The respondents contested the writ petition, seeking to defend the validity of the consolidated proceedings.

Decision

Composite Notices Held Impermissible: Following established Division Bench precedents, the court held that issuing a single composite show-cause notice and order spanning multiple financial years under Section 73 is legally unsustainable.
Orders Quashed: The consolidated SCN (Ext.P1), Order-in-Original (Ext.P4), and summary order (Ext.P5) were set aside and quashed.
Liberty to Re-initiate: The Revenue was granted liberty to issue fresh, separate notices for each relevant assessment year individually.
Limitation Benefit Provided: The period between the issuance of the composite notice and the receipt of the certified copy of the judgment was ordered to be excluded while computing the limitation period for initiating fresh proceedings.

Key Takeaways

Annual Limitation Frame for Section 73: Each financial year constitutes an independent unit of assessment under GST; hence, SCNs and orders under Section 73 must be issued separately per financial year.
Multi-Year Composite Notices Void: Grouping multiple financial years into a single consolidated SCN creates jurisdictional and procedural defects that invalidate both the notice and the resulting orders.
Exclusion of Limitation Period: When a composite notice is quashed by court intervention, the time consumed during litigating the invalid notice is excluded for calculating statutory limitation under Section 75 for fresh year-wise notices.

HIGH COURT OF KERALA

Prabhakaran Padmanabhan

Additional Commissioner, Central GST & Central Excise^*

ZIYAD RAHMAN A.A., J.

WP(C) NO. 21593 OF 2026

JULY 16, 2026

Smt. K. Krishna, Achyuth Menon, V. Harisankar, Smt. Parvathy Menon and Smt. Anna Anto, Advs. for the Petitioner. V. Girishkumar, SC for the Respondent.

JUDGMENT

1. This writ petition is submitted by the petitioner challenging Ext.P1 consolidated Show Cause Notice which was issued by the respondents for multiple financial years namely, 2018-2019 to 2021-2022, Ext.P4 Order-in-original and Ext.P5 summary order. The main challenge raised against the sustainability of the same is that, issuance of a composite notice for multiple assessment years was found to be not legally sustainable as per the decision rendered by this Court in Joint Commissioner (Intelligence & Enforcement) v. Lakshmi Mobile Accessories 108 GST 750/95 GSTL 356 (Kerala)/[2025 KHC OnLine 149] andTharayil Medicals v. Deputy Commissioner, SGST Department, Thrissur (Kerala)/[2025 VIL 356 KER]

2. After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel for the respondents, I find merits in the said submission, in view of the fact that, such a finding was indeed entered into by the Division Bench of this Court in the decisions referred to above.

In such circumstances, in the light principles laid down by this Court in the above referred judgments, an interference is required. Accordingly, this writ petition is disposed of, quashing Ext.P1 consolidated Show Cause Notice which was issued by the respondents for multiple financial years namely, 2018-2019 to 2021-2022, Ext.P4 Order-in-original and Ext.P5 summary order, granting liberty to the respondent to issue separate notices for the relevant assessment years. However, the period from the date of issuance of composite notice till the date of receipt of certified copy of the judgment shall be excluded while computing the period of limitation for initiating fresh proceeding. All the other contentions of the parties are left open.