Patanjali Ayurved operates three manufacturing units at Haridwar (Uttarakhand), Sonipat (Haryana) and Ahmednagar (Maharashtra).The company came under investigation following information received by authorities about suspicious transactions involving firms with high Input Tax Credit (ITC) utilisation but no income tax credentials.The investigation led to allegations that Patanjali “acting as a main person indulged in circular trading of tax invoices only on paper without actual supply of goods”.The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Ghaziabad issued a show cause notice on April 19, 2024 to Patanjali Ayurved, proposing a penalty of Rs 273.51 crore under Section 122(1), clauses (ii) and (vii) of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act 2017.Later, the DGGI dropped tax demands under Section 74 through an adjudication order dated January 10, 2025.The department found that “for all the commodities, the quantities sold were always more than the quantities purchased from the suppliers, thereby making the observation that all the ITC which was availed in the impugned goods was further passed on by the petitioner”.Despite dropping the tax demand, authorities decided to continue with penalty proceedings under Section 122, prompting Patanjali to challenge this before the high court.After hearing both sides, the court in its judgment dated May 29 dismissed the petition.
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