Delhi High Court issues rulings on GST limitation and social media grievance procedures

The Delhi High Court has issued two distinct rulings addressing administrative and digital rights.

In a tax-related matter, the court ruled that the dates on electronic forms DRC-01 and DRC-07 do not determine the limitation period under the CGST Act, 2017. The court held that these forms are consequential to substantive show cause notices and adjudication orders. Consequently, the later issuance or uploading of these electronic summaries does not invalidate notices or orders that were issued within the statutory period. The ruling clarifies the distinction between the statutory issuance of tax documents and their electronic summaries.

In a separate case involving digital intermediary rules, the court restored an appeal that the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) had closed without a merit-based decision. Justice Amit Mahajan noted that the Committee should not dispose of appeals simply due to a lack of response from intermediaries, such as Meta or YouTube. The court emphasized that the GAC possesses the authority to direct platforms to provide necessary information, highlighting a gap in current IT Rules regarding account hijackings where the attacker and the account holder are different individuals.