SCN issued without DIN Number is to be quashed

Facts of the Case

1. The company is a manufacturer registered under the Central Excise Law.
2. The records of the manufacturer had been audited upto March 2015. Therefore, ld. Department proceeded to conduct the audit for the period from March 2015 to June 2017. Ld. Audit team visited the premises of manufacturer for conduct of audit in the month of September 2017.
3. During the course of audit, ld. Audit team verified the invoices related to availment of credit on various procurements which are in the nature of ‘inputs’ and ‘capital goods’ and formed their view regarding ineligibility of the manufacturer to avail CENVAT Credit in respect thereof.
4. Accordingly, a show cause notice dated 28^th February 2020 was issued on the manufacturer asking to show cause as to why the amount specified in the notice shall not be recovered from him.

Our Analysis

1. The aforesaid show cause notice was not issued by the ld. Department in terms of provisions of Circular Number 122/41/2019 – GST dated 05.11.2019 read with Circular No. 128/47/2019 – GST dated 23.12.2019 which makes it obligatory to mention Document Identification Number (DIN) on any letter/notice issued to the assessee with a specific direction to not entertain any document as a valid document in the absence of DIN.

Our Action

1. Accordingly, manufacturer wrote a letter to the ld. Department asking to provide DIN in case notice has been issued by them and if DIN has not been generated, then the notice already issued by quashed or revived by way of new DIN.

Department Proceedings

1. Department quashed the SCN dated 28.02.2020.