𝐇𝐂: 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞
𝐔𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐆𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐚 𝐕𝐬. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐟 𝐂𝐆𝐒𝐓

Facts:
▪️The case involved a show cause notice (SCN) issued by the CGST authorities for recovery of tax, interest, and penalties against a deceased individual who was the sole proprietor of a firm.
▪️The SCN was challenged by Usha Gupta, the wife of the deceased, who filed a writ petition on the grounds that the notice was improperly addressed to a deceased person rather than a legal representative.

Judgment:
▪️The Delhi High Court quashed the SCN, holding that issuing a notice to a deceased taxpayer is legally untenable, as it must be directed to the legal representative or the person managing the business.
▪️The Court cited a precedent from the Madras High Court in the Unnikrishnan R case, which supported the principle that a tax recovery notice must not be addressed to a non-existent person.
▪️It was clarified that the quashing of the SCN would not prevent the authorities from issuing a fresh notice to the legal representative.