The Gauhati High Court, sitting as a Division Bench in an intra-court appeal, has upheld the Single Judge’s finding that a show cause notice under Section 73(1) of the CGST/AGST Act dated 29.11.2024 was not time-barred, holding that the requirement of ‘at least three months prior to the time limit specified in sub-section (10)’ is satisfied where, on excluding the date of issuance of the notice, three full calendar months (December, January, February) remain available before the statutory terminal date of 28.02.2025. The ruling by Acting Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury in WA/64/2026 (Surya Business Pvt. Ltd., decided 15.09.2026) provides a comprehensive analysis of the interplay between Sections 73(1), 73(2), 73(9), 73(10) and 75 of the Act.

The appellant contended that applying the ‘corresponding date’ principle backward from 28.02.2025, the last permissible date for issuance of SCN was 28.11.2024, making the notice dated 29.11.2024 one day beyond limitation. The court examined the statutory scheme and held that Section 73(2) does not prescribe an independent period of limitation expiring on a corresponding date; it prescribes the minimum interval that must be available between the initiation and culmination of the adjudicatory proceeding. The notice, the opportunity to contest, the hearing and the final determination constitute parts of a single adjudicatory process with a legislatively prescribed terminal point. The requirement is satisfied if three calendar months are available after excluding the day of issuance — applying the well-settled rule under Section 9 of the General Clauses Act that where a period is prescribed from a specified date, that date is excluded.

The court however took note that during the pendency of the writ petition, an ex parte order under Section 73(9) had been passed on 28.02.2025 without the appellant having had effective opportunity, and that Rs. 10 lakhs had already been recovered. The court accordingly set aside the ex parte order to enable the appellant to avail his right to contest the notice, granting four weeks to file a reply with proceedings to be completed within three months thereafter, failing which the order would revive.

- 2026-juristway.com-2504-HC(Gauhati)-GST  |  High Court of Gauhati  |  WA/64/2026  |  15.09.2026