M/s Banasura Eco Resorts Private Limited v. Intelligence Officer-Intelligence Unit-1 & Others

Introduction

This judgment of the Kerala High Court reinforces the settled legal position that a composite Show Cause Notice (SCN) issued for multiple assessment years under the GST law is legally unsustainable. Following the binding Division Bench decisions in Joint Commissioner (Intelligence & Enforcement) v. M/s. Lakshmi Mobiles Accessories and Tharayil Medicals (M/s.) v. Deputy Commissioner, the Court held that each financial year constitutes a separate assessment unit requiring independent adjudication.

The Court observed that issuing one consolidated SCN along with its summary for several financial years violates the statutory framework of the GST Act. Consequently, the Court quashed both the composite SCN and the summary of the notice, while granting liberty to the Revenue to issue fresh notices separately for each assessment year. To safeguard the interests of the Revenue, the Court further directed that the period consumed in the defective proceedings shall be excluded while computing the limitation period for fresh proceedings.