Superintendent cannot exceed jurisdictional prescribed limits and pass the Order

The Hon'ble Allahabad High Court in the case of Mansoori Enterprises v. Union of India[Writ Tax No. 35 Of 2024 Dated February 23, 2024] held that according to Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST dated February 09, 2018, power of the Superintendent, Central Goods and Service Tax & Central Excise is limited to the matter not exceeding Rs. 10,00,000/- and in the present case the amount involved is more than Rs. 16,00,000/- and consequently, the order passed by the Superintendent is without jurisdiction.Hence, the said order was declared without jurisdiction and liable to be set aside.

Facts

Mansoori Enterprises ("the Petitioner"), challenged the Impugned Order dated November 20, 2023 ("the Impugned Order"), passed by, the Superintendent ("the Respondent"), under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 ("CGST Act"). The Impugned Order disallowed ITC amounting to Rs. 16,24,246.88.

The Petitioner contested the jurisdiction of the Superintendent to pass the order, citing Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST dated February 09, 2018.The Petitioner contended that the Superintendent's jurisdiction was limited by the circular to matters not exceeding Rs. 10,00,000/- while the amount involved in the case exceeded Rs. 16,00,000/-

Hence, aggrieved by the Impugned Order of the Respondent, the Petitioner filed a Writ Petition in the High Court of Allahabad challenging the Superintendent's jurisdiction to pass the Impugned Order.

Issue

Whether the Superintendent have the jurisdiction to pass the Order considering the jurisdictional limits?

Held

The Hon'ble Allahabad High Court, in Writ Tax No. 35 OF 2024 held as under:

• Observed that, the Superintendent lacked jurisdiction to issue the Impugned Order since the amount involved exceeded the limits set in Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST dated February 09, 2018which limited the Superintendent's jurisdiction to matters not exceeding Rs. 10,00,000/- for Central Tax and Rs. 10,00,000/- for State Tax totaling Rs. 20,00,000/-.
• Opined that, since the amount in question, Rs. 16,24,246.88, exceeded the prescribed limit, the Impugned Order was without jurisdiction.
• Held that, the Impugned Order was liable to be quashed, also the Court granted liberty to the Respondent to initiate fresh proceedings in accordance with the law.

Our Comments

For optimal distribution of work relating to the issuance of show cause notices and orders under Sections 73 and 74 of the CGST Act and also under the IGST Act, monetary limits for different levels of officers of central tax need to be prescribed. Therefore, in pursuance of clause (91) of Section 2 of the CGST Act read with Section 20 of the IGST Act, the Board hereby assigns the officers mentioned in Column (2) of the Table below, the functions as the proper officers in relation to issue of show cause notices and orders under Sections 73 and 74 of the CGST Act and Section 20 of the IGST Act, up to the monetary limits as mentioned in columns (3), (4) and (5) respectively of the Table below:-