Shri Krishna Industries vs. Commissioner of Central Goods and Services Tax and Ors.
Background
A small plastics manufacturer was earlier subject to a routine GST demand by the State tax authority over Input Tax Credit (ITC) claimed from a supplier called "M.R. Enterprises." Separately, after an investigation revealed that the same supplier had allegedly passed on fake ITC without actually supplying goods, the Central GST authorities issued fresh show-cause notices and confirmed demands under the more serious fraud provision (Section 74). The petitioner argued that the Central authorities could not reopen an issue the State authority had already dealt with, and also complained that its detailed replies were ignored.
Decision Breakdown
The Court held that the legal bar against two tax authorities proceeding on the "same subject matter" (Section 6(2)(b) of the CGST Act) applies only when both proceedings concern the identical contravention or liability, and not merely where they share the same taxpayer, year, or supplier name. Here, the State's earlier routine proceeding and the Central authorities' fraud investigation (which even involved different GST registration numbers for the supplier) were found to be materially different in nature, so the statutory bar did not apply. The Court declined to examine the petitioner's other grievances (natural justice, non-consideration of its reply) on the merits, leaving those to be raised before the statutory appellate authority.
Lesson Learnt
Being investigated twice over GST credit from the same supplier is not automatically illegal. The "same subject matter" protection only kicks in when both proceedings target the exact same contravention, so a genuine fraud probe can run independently of an earlier routine tax assessment.