GST officials demonstrate portal before Telangana HC amid notice validity row

In response to hundreds of petitions challenging the validity of unsigned GST notices, officials from the GST department gave a live demonstration before the Telangana High Court. They clarified that all notices are digitally signed and legally valid, even if the signature isn’t visibly displayed during download.

Hyderabad: In an unprecedented move, officials of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) department on Thursday gave a live demonstration before the Telangana High Court on how the GST portal functions and how computerised notices are issued.

The presentation was made in the First Court Hall before Chief Justice Alok Aradhe, Justice Sham Koshi, Justice Suddala Chalapathi Rao, and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin.The issue came up in connection with hundreds of petitions challenging the validity of GST notices on the ground that they carried no signatures.

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The petitioners argued that the computerised notices, when downloaded from the portal, did not contain signatures, raising doubts over their legal validity. Taking note of these concerns, the Chief Justice had earlier directed GST officials to practically demonstrate the process of notice generation and signing.

On Thursday, State Commercial Taxes Commissioner K. Haritha and Central GST Commissioner Srinivas appeared before the Court and explained the functioning of the portal for over an hour and a half.

They clarified that all notices are digitally signed using a digital key and should be treated as valid even if the digital signature does not visibly appear at the time of download. After hearing the explanation, the Bench directed GST authorities to file counters in all related petitions within four weeks.

The petitioners were given two additional weeks thereafter to file their replies, with the Court making it clear that no further adjournments would be granted. The next hearing has been scheduled for October 30.

Advocate General A. Sudarshan Reddy described the live demonstration as historic, noting that it was the first time such a process had been undertaken before the Court.

The Chief Justice also observed that with so many cases pending, direct clarification from officials would help both sides and likely resolve many of the issues raised.