M/s MEENAKSHI COLLECTIONS v. THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER (ST)

Introduction

The petitioner, M/s Meenakshi Collections, challenged the assessment order dated 12.08.2024 passed under Section 74 of the CGST/TNGST Act, whereby the Proper Officer confirmed demand on account of wrongful availment of Input Tax Credit (ITC) for the Financial Year 2017-18. Besides recovery of the ITC, the department also levied interest under Section 50 and 100% penalty under Section 74.

The dispute essentially arose because the petitioner had availed ITC on the strength of tax invoices, but the corresponding invoices were not reflected in Form GSTR-2A. The petitioner contended that during the initial implementation of GST, GSTR-2A was either unavailable or incomplete due to technical issues, and therefore ITC was availed bona fide based on self-assessment under Section 41.