A 33-year-old farmer from Ballia district landed in an unexpected tax dispute after receiving a GST recovery notice of Rs 72.76 lakh from the office of the assistant commissioner of CGST and central excise, Kovilpatti division in Tamil Nadu, for a business he insists he never owned. Balbir Singh, a resident of Siura Gopalpur in Ballia, said he received a notice through email and SMS which claimed that he was the proprietor of M/s Mahendra Agency and liable to pay GST dues, interest, penalty and late fee amounting to Rs 72,76,478.
The notice, issued under Section 79(1)(c) of the CGST Act, pertains to alleged tax defaults for the period between April 2019 and March 2020 and directed Union Bank of India to recover the amount from his account.
Talking to TOI, Balbir claimed that he has never operated the firm. “Someone has used my PAN and bank details to open a firm and carry out business. The GST office should proceed against the person who fraudulently used my documents,” he said.
A farmer and migrant labourer, Balbir works as a blacksmith in Mumbai during agricultural off season. He owns no farmland and depends on his father Ram Kunwer’s one bigha agricultural land for cultivation.
In 2019, while pursuing a basic training certificate (BTC) course in Ghazipur, he had opened a bank account in Sidhagarh area of the district to receive a govt scholarship.
Manager of Sidhagarh branch, Raghwesh Kumar, confirmed the authenticity of the notice, saying the branch had also received a copy. “His account currently has a balance of minus Rs 400,” he said.
A GST official, requesting anonymity, said it was the responsibility of the individual concerned to keep their identity documents safe. “The burden now lies on the recipient of the notice to explain the GST arrears linked to the GSTIN,” he said.
The official added that authorities had come across several cases where “ghost identities” were allegedly used to obtain GST registrations and conduct transactions, exploiting Rule 14A of the CGST Rules that allows eligible small businesses to secure registration electronically without mandatory physical verification.
Legal experts said Balbir’s immediate remedy was to approach a competent court, which could seek a response from GST authorities, although the process could turn into a prolonged legal battle.
