The Allahabad High Court has ruled that show cause notices (SCNs) and orders issued under Section 74 of the GST Act against a deceased proprietor are invalid. This decision came in the case of Shubhangi Gupta v. State of U.P. & Others, where the petitioner, the widow of Ankur Gupta, challenged the actions of the authorities who issued SCNs and passed orders against her deceased husband, despite his GST registration being canceled following his death in February 2019.

After Ankur Gupta's death, his wife successfully applied for the cancellation of his GST registration, which was approved in July 2019. However, authorities continued to issue SCNs and orders against him, leading to the legal challenge. The petitioner argued that proceedings could not be legitimately conducted against a deceased individual, referencing a similar ruling in the case of Amit Kumar Sethia (Deceased) v. State of U.P.

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The court clarified that while Section 93 of the GST law addresses the liability of legal representatives, it does not permit proceedings against someone who has passed away. It emphasized that any such proceedings should be directed towards the legal heirs if there is a need to enforce liability. Consequently, the court quashed the SCNs and orders issued against the deceased and allowed the authorities the option to initiate fresh proceedings against the legal heirs in accordance with the law. The writ petition filed by Shubhangi Gupta was thus allowed, reinforcing the procedural requirement to address legal heirs in such cases.