This circular provides clarification on the determination of the proper officer for adjudication of show cause notices issued under sections 73 and 74 of the CGST Act and the IGST Act, and amends Circular No. 31/05/2018-GST dated 9 February 2018.

It explains that, pursuant to Notification No. 02/2022–Central Tax dated 11 March 2022, certain Additional Commissioners and Joint Commissioners of Central Tax have been empowered with all-India jurisdiction to adjudicate show cause notices issued by officers of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). Accordingly, the earlier circular has been amended to align with this new framework.

The circular clarifies that officers of Audit Commissionerates and DGGI are empowered only to issue show cause notices. Where a case pertains to a single executive Commissionerate, adjudication will continue to be done by the competent officer of that Commissionerate. However, in cases where the noticees fall under multiple Central Tax Commissionerates, or where multiple show cause notices on the same issue are issued to different noticees (including those having the same PAN with multiple GST registrations), adjudication may be undertaken by an Additional or Joint Commissioner having all-India jurisdiction.

It further provides a mechanism for allocating such cases based on the location of the principal place of business of the noticee with the highest tax demand, and allows transfer of pending DGGI cases issued prior to the notification to the newly empowered adjudicating authorities by issuing corrigenda. These amendments aim to streamline adjudication, avoid multiplicity of proceedings, and ensure uniform handling of complex DGGI cases.