Fate of unsigned GST orders

[dated March 19, 2024 from WP No. 5238 of 2024 in SRS Traders v. Assistant Commissioner (ST)]

Section 160(1) of the CGST Act provides that any assessment, re-assessment, adjudication, review, revision, appeal, rectification, notice, summons or other proceedings shall not be invalid merely due to a mistake, defect or omission therein, if such proceedings are otherwise in substance and effect in conformity with the purpose of the CGST Act or any existing law.

However, omission to sign the order cannot be covered under the safeguards of "any mistake, defect or omission" under Section 160 ibid. An unsigned order is no order in the eyes of law. Mere uploading of the unsigned order would not cure the defect related to validity of the order.

Section 169 ibid would also not come to the rescue since the said section deals only with mode of service and not signing the order. Thus, it cannot be used as a guise to dispense with the signature.

Several orders are passed towards the end of the limitation period. In that process, certain orders may be unsigned. However, many taxpayers seldom check the existence of signature in the order, absence of which may shake its root / foundation.

An aspect to ponder, in an instance where unsigned order is issued and is consequently not an order in the eyes of law, is admissibility of appeal against such order. Should the taxpayer necessarily approach only the Writ Court for remedy? On the same ground, it is worth deliberating whether an unsigned order can be rectified suo motu under Section 161 ibid.

Also, if the order is unsigned and limitation is not barred, the proper officer can (and, in all probability, will) issue an order afresh. But, it would be interesting to observe how the judiciary rules in instances where issue of the order is barred by limitation.

Srinivasan V, Advocate