Proceedings on GST Show Cause Notices Stayed Pending Final Disposal of Main Matter

Issue: Whether proceedings on multiple show cause notices issued under the GST Act, demanding alleged short payment of tax, should be stayed pending the final disposal of a related main matter before the Supreme Court.

Facts:

Several taxpayers filed writ petitions in different High Courts challenging show cause notices issued by the revenue authorities.
The notices demanded alleged short payment of GST for the financial year 2017-18, along with interest and penalties.
These writ petitions were transferred to the Supreme Court for uniform adjudication and tagged with a main matter.

Decision:

The Supreme Court ordered a stay on further proceedings related to the impugned show cause notices until the final disposal of the main matter and all tagged matters.

Key Takeaways:

This case highlights the Supreme Court’s power to consolidate and stay proceedings in multiple cases involving similar issues to ensure uniformity and avoid conflicting decisions.
The stay on proceedings provides interim relief to the taxpayers who challenged the show cause notices, preventing any immediate adverse action against them while the main matter is being adjudicated.
This decision promotes judicial efficiency and ensures that all related cases are decided in a consistent and coordinated manner.

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Golden Peace Infrastructure (P.) Ltd.

Assistant State Tax Officer

J.B. PARDIWALA and R. Mahadevan, JJ.

Writ Petition (Civil) No(s). 50, 51 and 52 of 2025

JANUARY 22, 2025

Parag Rao, Guruprasad Naik, Ms. Ishani Shekhar, Ninad Laud, Zubin Dash, Advs. and Dcosta Ivo Manuel Simon, AOR for the Petitioner.

ORDER

1. By these writ petitions, the petitioners seek quashing of the show cause notices issued by the State Tax Officer and the Office of the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Goa to the extent it raises a demand for alleged short-payment of goods and service tax for the financial year 2017-2018 with interest and penalty thereupon by, inter alia, considering the entire sum of monies bet upon by the customers of the casino as being the total value of the supply undertaken by the petitioner.

2. This Court on 10-1-2025 passed the following Order in Special Leave to Appeal (C) Nos.19366-19369/2023 and other connected matters which reads thus:-

“These batch of writ petitions those matters that stood transferred to this Court from different High Courts and few matters which were directly filed before this Court. The main matter is SLP (C) Nos.19366-19369/2023 titled “Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (HQS) & Ors. v. Gameskraft Technologies Pvt. Ltd. & Ors.“

2. All these matters have been tagged with the main matter referred to above. Upon request made by the learned counsel appearing for the parties, all these matters were ordered to be notified today, so that an appropriate order can be passed protecting the interest of both the sides.

3. The main matter is now ripe for final hearing. However, according to the revenue, some of the show cause notices are likely to get time barred by the first week of February, 2025.

4. In such circumstances, the further proceedings of all the impugned show cause notices shall remain stayed till the final disposal of the main matter along with all the matters which are tagged.

5. Post these matters along with W.P. (C) No.858 of 2024 for final disposal on 18.3.2025.”

3. In view of the above, let all these matters be notified for final disposal on 18-3-2025 along with SLP (C) Nos.19366-19369/2023 and other connected matters.

4. In the meantime, further proceedings of all the impugned show cause notices shall remain stayed till the final disposal of the main matter along with all the matters which are tagged.