{"id":7096,"date":"2025-12-05T17:30:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T12:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/?p=7096"},"modified":"2025-12-05T17:30:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T12:00:57","slug":"scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc","title":{"rendered":"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre><strong>Case Details: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/latest-news-updates\/excise-service-tax\/101010000000409518\/requirement-of-pre-consultation-is-mandatory-before-issuing-scn-involving-demand-hc\">Varalaxmi Construction Co. vs. Union of India (2025) 35 Centax 127 (Bom.)<\/a><\/strong><\/pre>\n<h2><em>Judiciary and Counsel Details<\/em><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>M.S. Sonak<\/strong> &amp; <strong>Advait M. Sethna<\/strong>, JJ.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ms Deepali Kamble<\/strong>, for the Petitioner.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shri Ram Ochani<\/strong> a\/w. <strong>Ms Niyati Mankad<\/strong> &amp; <strong>Ms Priyanka Singh<\/strong>, for the Respondent.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><em>Facts of the Case<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>The petitioner-assessee challenged the issuance of a Show Cause Notice (SCN) on the ground that mandatory pre-consultation was not conducted. In terms of Para 5.0 of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/search?searchData=Circular%20No.%201053%2F2%2F2017-CX.&amp;itemType=AP\">Master Circular No. 1053\/2\/2017-CX.<\/a>, dated 10-03-2017, pre-consultation with the assessee is required before issuing a demand-based SCN. The petitioner submitted that the revenue authority issued the SCN without any actual pre-consultation and contended that any purported communication for pre-consultation was not received due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The petitioner relied upon earlier decisions of the Gujarat High Court and Delhi High Court, which emphasised the mandatory nature of pre-consultation. The matter was accordingly placed before the High Court.<\/p>\n<h2><em>High Court Held<\/em><\/h2>\n<p>The High Court held that pre-consultation under Para 5.0 of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/search?searchData=Circular%20No.%201053%2F2%2F2017-CX.&amp;itemType=AP\">Master Circular No. 1053\/2\/2017-CX.<\/a>, dated 10-03-2017 is mandatory. The Court observed that issuance of a SCN without actual pre-consultation contravenes procedural requirements. It concluded that the impugned SCN and the consequent order-in-original were unsustainable and, therefore, set aside both. The Court granted liberty to the jurisdictional officer under CGST to hold the pre-consultation as required under the circular.<\/p>\n<h2><em>List of Cases Cited<\/em><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/search?searchData=2019%20(25)%20G.S.T.L.%20486%20(Del.)&amp;itemType=AP\">Amadeus India Pvt. Ltd. v. Principal Commissioner<\/a> \u2014 2019 (25) G.S.T.L. 486 (Del.) \u2014 Relied on [Paras 13, 14, 15]<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/search?searchData=2025%20(393)%20E.L.T.%2028%20(Guj.)&amp;itemType=AP\">Jay Mahakali Industrial Service v. Union of India<\/a> \u2014 2025 (393) E.L.T. 28 (Guj.) = (2025) 29 Centax 353 (Guj.) \u2014 Relied on [Paras 12, 15]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><em>List of Departmental Clarification Cited<\/em><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/search?searchData=Circular%20No.%201053%2F2%2F2017-CX.&amp;itemType=AP\">C.B.E. &amp; C. Circular No. 1053\/2\/2017-CX.<\/a>, dated 10-3-2017 [Paras 4, 7, 10, 11, 15]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Case Details: Varalaxmi Construction Co. vs. Union of India (2025) 35 Centax&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":7116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-excise-service-tax","category-news-excise-service-tax","category-est-case-chronicles"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SCN issued without prior consultation is invalid; SCN and order-in-original set aside with liberty to recommence process.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SCN issued without prior consultation is invalid; SCN and order-in-original set aside with liberty to recommence process.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Centax-Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-05T12:00:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kriti Sharma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kriti Sharma\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kriti Sharma\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ec6616ec60dcf123f90d827e5ad10270\"},\"headline\":\"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-05T12:00:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc\"},\"wordCount\":274,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Excise &amp; Service Tax\",\"News\",\"Case Chronicles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc\",\"name\":\"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-05T12:00:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"SCN issued without prior consultation is invalid; SCN and order-in-original set aside with liberty to recommence process.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg\",\"width\":920,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Centax-Blogs\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Centax-Blogs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp\",\"width\":536,\"height\":133,\"caption\":\"Centax-Blogs\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ec6616ec60dcf123f90d827e5ad10270\",\"name\":\"Kriti Sharma\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae7808b01d77de5dd0be43270be33948?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae7808b01d77de5dd0be43270be33948?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kriti Sharma\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/author\/kriti\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC","description":"SCN issued without prior consultation is invalid; SCN and order-in-original set aside with liberty to recommence process.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC","og_description":"SCN issued without prior consultation is invalid; SCN and order-in-original set aside with liberty to recommence process.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc","og_site_name":"Centax-Blogs","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia","article_published_time":"2025-12-05T12:00:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":920,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kriti Sharma","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kriti Sharma","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc"},"author":{"name":"Kriti Sharma","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ec6616ec60dcf123f90d827e5ad10270"},"headline":"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC","datePublished":"2025-12-05T12:00:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc"},"wordCount":274,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg","articleSection":["Excise &amp; Service Tax","News","Case Chronicles"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc","name":"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-05T12:00:57+00:00","description":"SCN issued without prior consultation is invalid; SCN and order-in-original set aside with liberty to recommence process.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1.-SCN-Invalid-Without-Mandatory-Pre-Consultation.jpg","width":920,"height":540},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/scn-invalid-without-mandatory-pre-consultation-hc#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SCN Invalid Without Mandatory Pre-Consultation | HC"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/","name":"Centax-Blogs","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Centax-Blogs","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/CNETAX-LOGO-1.webp","width":536,"height":133,"caption":"Centax-Blogs"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/centaxindia"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ec6616ec60dcf123f90d827e5ad10270","name":"Kriti Sharma","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae7808b01d77de5dd0be43270be33948?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ae7808b01d77de5dd0be43270be33948?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kriti Sharma"},"url":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/author\/kriti"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7096"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7099,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7096\/revisions\/7099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centaxonline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}