APHC010297142026 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT AMARAVATI (Special Original Jurisdiction) [3529] WEDNESDAY,THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY SIX PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE R RAGHUNANDAN RAO THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE T.C.D.SEKHAR WRIT PETITION NO: 15579/2026 Between: 1. SRI. RISHAB SURANA, AGED ABOUT 42 YEARS, S/O. LATE CHAINROOP SURANA, PROPRIETOR OF M/S. RAJAT INTERNATIONAL, 28-99-77, SURYABAGH, VISAKHAPATNAM- 530020 ...PETITIONER AND 1. THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER STATE TAX, SURYABAGH CIRCLE, VISAKHAPATNAM-I DIVISION, 2-7/3, PLOT NO.21, RAJEEV NAGAR, OLD DAIRY FARM,VISAKHAPATNAM- 530040, ANDHRA PRADESH. 2. THE DEPUTY ASSISTANT COMMISSIONERST, DABAGARDENS CIRCLE, VISAKHAPATNAM-I DIVISION, NAUKANAGAR, PEDAWALTAIR, VISAKHAPATNAM-530017, ANDHRA PRADESH 3. THE DEPUTY ASSISTANT COMMISSIONERST, 1, SURYABAGH CIRCLE, VISAKHAPATNAM-I DIVISION, 2-7/3, PLOT NO.21, RAJEEV NAGAR, OLD DAIRY FARM,VISAKHAPATNAM-530040, ANDHRA PRADESH. 4. THE BRANCH MANAGER, HDFC BANK LTD., GROUND FLOOR, SILVER WILLOW, DABAGARDENS, VISAKHAPATNAM-530020, ANDHRA PRADESH. 5. THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF STATE TAX, VIJAYA ELITE, SERVICE ROAD ADJ. TO NH16, KUNCHANAPALLI-522501, 2 GUNTUR DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH. 6. THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH, REPRESENTED BY ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, REVENUE (CT-II) DEPARTMENT, A.P. SECRETARIAT BUILDINGS, VELAGAPUDI-522238, AMARAVATI, GUNTUR DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH ...RESPONDENT(S): Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to (a) Issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order, or direction calling for the records pertaining to the impugned Order in Form GST DRC-07 bearing Reference No. ZD37 122404681 68/APGST/2022-23 dated 31-12-2024 (Annexure P2) passed by the 1st Respondent, and the consequential impugned Notice of attachment in Form GST DRC-13 bearing Reference No. DIN3718032698981 dated 18-03-2026 (Annexure P1) issued by the 3rd Respondent, Bankers intimation dated 05.05.2026, and to quash the same as being illegal, arbitrary, and violative of the principles of natural justice (b) Issue an order, or direction, directing the Respondents, their agents, servants, or anyone acting on their behalf, not to take any coercive steps or recovery proceedings against the Petitioner pursuant to the impugned order and notice IA NO: 1 OF 2026 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased grant an interim stay of all further proceedings, including recovery and auction, pursuant to the impugned Order in Form GST DRC-07 bearing Reference No. ZD3712240468168/ APGST/2022-23 dated 31-12-2024 (Annexure P2) passed by the 1st Respondent and the impugned Notice in Form GST DRC-13 bearing Reference No. DIN3718032698981 dated 18-03- 2026 (Annexure P1) issued by the 3rd Respondent; and pass Counsel for the Petitioner: 1. C SANJEEVA RAO Counsel for the Respondent(S): 1. GP FOR COMMERCIAL TAX 3 The Court made the following Order: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice R. Raghunandan Rao) Heard Sri C.Sanjeeva Rao, learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Government Pleader for Commercial Tax appearing for the respondents. 2. The petitioner is a proprietorship concern, which has been served with an order of assessment, dated 31.12.2024 passed by the 1st respondent. This order of assessment covers the period from 2019-2020 to 2022-2023. 3. The petitioner, after having raised various grounds of challenge, has pressed the ground that, a single order of assessment, issued for more than one financial year, would be violative of the provisions of Section 73 and Section 74 of the GST Act, 2017, and consequently, set aside the impugned order of assessment. 4. A Division Bench of this Court, in W.P.No.11028 of 2025 & batch, after considering the said question, had held that, a single show-cause notice or a single composite assessment order, cannot be passed, in relation to more than one tax period of either a month if the assessment is taken up before the due date for filing of the annual return or for more than one year if the due date for filing of annual return has been reached. 5. The petitioner has raised various grounds of challenge. However, the petitioner is pressing the primary ground of the order of assessment being a composite order of assessment. In that view of the matter, the present Writ 4 Petition is being disposed of, on this ground of challenge, leaving open the other grounds of challenge. 6. Accordingly, this Writ Petition is disposed of, setting aside the impugned order of assessment, dated 31.12.2024 and remand back to the respondents, leaving it open to the respondents to initiate fresh proceedings, for each assessment year separately. This order is subject to the condition of the petitioner depositing 20% of the disputed tax, within a period of six (06) weeks. Any payment made or any amount recovered from the petitioner, after the passing of the impugned order, shall be adjusted against the aforesaid 20%. 7. Needless to say, the period from the date of issuance of the impugned order of assessment till the date of receipt of this order shall be excluded for the purposes of limitation. There shall be no order as to costs. As a sequel, pending miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed. ________________________ R. RAGHUNANDAN RAO, J ________________ T.C.D. SEKHAR, J Date:17.06.2026 KA 5 THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE R RAGHUNANDAN RAO THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE T.C.D.SEKHAR WRIT PETITION NO: 15579/2026 Date:17.06.2026 KA 6 7 8 9 10