Welcome to another Friday, chief!

In today’s edition — Madras HC says GST officers must do more than just upload notices on their website so that businesses that fail to log in do not get penalised. Meanwhile, bank frauds, especially on UPI, are rising fast. RBI’s new AI tool tries to catch scammers, but a report says charging small fees could help improve security.

Send a Notice Plus a Nudge: HC

Vishwas Ved

If a taxpayer doesn’t respond to GST notices uploaded on the website, tax officers can’t just stop there and move on.

The Madras High Court made it clear through an order earlier this month that GST officials must make a genuine effort to reach taxpayers in case of any dispute; just uploading it on the website is not enough.

The Case That Moved The Needle

The case came to the court when a company from Tamil Nadu, Tvl. Metro Computers, appealed against a tax assessment order. 

Their argument was that because all notices addressed to them were only uploaded on the GST portal, they never got any alert or update about it. As a result, they could not respond to them in time.

Subsequently, the company approached the court, requesting a fresh hearing and even offered to pay 25% of the disputed tax amount upfront to prove its seriousness.

Apply Your Mind

The High Court said that uploading notices on the GST portal is important, but it doesn’t always mean the department’s job is done. 

In a scathing observation, the court said that if there is no response to the uploaded notice, the tax officer “should have applied his/her mind” and considered other methods outlined in Section 169 of the GST Act, like sending notices by registered post or email.

The court also noted that if the officials do not ensure that the notice reaches the business concerned, the exercise of uploading the notice on the website is reduced to a bureaucratic formality.

Why This Matters

This decision matters because it reminds officers that the GST system is based on fairness, not just forms.

The court order also made it clear that sending notices is not about catching taxpayers off guard; it’s about giving them a chance to respond before any action is taken.

The court stressed that this kind of process goes against the spirit of the law and burdens both taxpayers and judicial forums.

It observed in the order: “Merely passing an ex parte order by fulfilling the empty formalities will not serve any useful purpose and the same will only pave the way for multiplicity of litigations, not only wasting the time of the officer concerned, but also the precious time of the appellate authority/tribunal and this court as well.”

The Outcome

The court overturned the original tax order and sent the case back to the GST officer, but with conditions:

• The petitioner must pay 25% of the disputed tax within four weeks.

• After that, they must submit a reply within three weeks.

• A personal hearing will be arranged.

• A new decision will be made based on the facts, not just formality.

Final Words

Uploading notices on the portal is legal, but not always enough. If a taxpayer stays silent, officers must try other ways to send notices. 

In tax matters, as the court has reminded us, communication isn’t just about process: it’s about fairness as well.

That said, chief, it would be a good idea to keep logging into the GST portal once in a while.

UPI: Tap or Trap

In the day-to-day bazaar of Digital India, almost every chaiwala has a QR code for payments and even the dhol-wala of a baraat music band accepts baksheesh through UPI. 

But there are scammers out there waiting to spoil your tea or ruin your party mood. 

According to a recent RBI report, more than half of frauds took place in digital or card-based transactions. 

Our shiny UPI system — faster than a bullet train and just as hard to stop — has become a perfect paradise for fraudsters, according to a Bloomberg report. 

Our banks are still stuck in the good old days, perfecting the art of getting defrauded via loans obtained with the help of forged documents or bribes. 

But today’s scammer targets individuals rather than financial institutions. Plus, he is a multitasker. He phishes before breakfast, clones SIMs by lunch, and by dinner poses as a fake delivery agent asking for OTPs. 

Identity theft? Just another Friday for them. Meanwhile, bank customers are caught in a loop of endless ‘Know Your Customer’ checks. 

The RBI has rolled out MuleHunter.ai — a tool to combat financial fraud through mule accounts. Great start indeed. 

But detecting a scam is as good as finding a wild animal in your bathroom. Impressive, but what do you do about it? The Indian money-laundering laws do not allow banks to take prompt preventive action, or to restore funds to their rightful owners.

Still, the government’s focus, the Bloomberg report points out, is on letting everyone transact on UPI for free, forever. 

Payment apps are left wondering if they should offer platinum-class security to their customers or just hope scamsters are on vacation. But the problem with upgrading the security infrastructure is that it costs money.

The report suggests a solution: Let banks charge a little. Invite some healthy competition. Make fraud slightly less attractive. 

Most importantly, we need to agree over one basic thing: zero-fee payments and top-notch security cannot be delivered on the same budget.

Until then, chief, keep your passwords strong, and your fingers crossed.

2,200%

Asia’s richest billionaire, Mukesh Ambani, has finally cashed out of his Asian Paints investment, transforming a ₹500 crore stake into ₹9,080 crore profit, translating into a 2,200% return over 17 years. Reliance Industries announced earlier this week that it had sold the remaining 87 lakh equity shares of Asian Paints at an average price of ₹2,207.65 per share to ICICI Prudential Life Mutual Fund in a block deal worth ₹1,876 crore.

—Sebi bans media guest for stock manipulation. Sebi on Tuesday barred Sanjiv Bhasin, a former director at IIFL Securities, and 11 others from the securities markets for indulging in share manipulation in a case pertaining to providing stock recommendations on media channels and other social media platforms. Additionally, Sebi directed them to disgorge ill-gotten gains of ₹11.37 crore. In its 149-page interim order, Sebi noted that Bhasin was a well-known media guest expert with a huge following on social media.

—RBI to reissue ₹27,000 crore in securities. In a move aimed at managing the Centre's market borrowings, the RBI this week announced the reissue of government securities worth ₹27,000 crore in two separate tranches. The auction is scheduled for June 20. The RBI will reissue ₹15,000 crore of the 6.75% Government Security (GS) maturing in 2029, and ₹12,000 crore of the 7.09% GS maturing in 2054. In addition, the Centre has retained the option to accept up to ₹2,000 crore in oversubscriptions across both securities.

—Get annual toll pass for ₹3,000. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways announced this week an annual toll pass that will eliminate repeated toll deductions for personal passenger vehicles. “We are introducing a FASTag-based Annual Pass priced at ₹3,000, effective from 15 August 2025. Valid for one year from the date of activation or up to 200 trips—whichever comes first—this pass is designed for non-commercial private vehicles,” said Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

—Get voter ID card within 15 days. The Election Commission of India (ECI) said this week that it had rolled out a new set of rules aimed at ensuring that voter identification cards are delivered to voters within 15 days of any update in the electoral rolls, including fresh enrolments or changes in existing records. Until now, the voter ID card delivery took almost 30 days or more. The move is part of the Commission’s efforts to improve voter convenience and streamline electoral services.

—Razor blade throat Covid variant in US. A new variant of COVID is spreading in the US. The NB.1.8.1 COVID variant, which is also called Nimbus, is spreading quickly and making a lot of people have a very sore throat that feels like they're almost swallowing glass. Health experts are keeping a close eye on it because summer travel makes it more likely to spread. According to a report, it's not a serious threat at the moment, but it's spreading quickly enough to cause concern.

ICYMI | GST Tables for Two, Please

Missed last week's update? GST filings get a makeover as Table 12 of GSTR-1 splits into two: 12A for B2B and 12B for B2C, promising smoother filing and faster processing. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok went full rebel, accusing its creator of being involved in a romantic drama. In return, the AI chatbot got an earful.

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