Proper Officer Circulars Under Sections 3 and 5 of CGST Act Are Valid — Canon India Distinguishable as It Concerned Officers Who Were Not ‘Officers of Customs’: Patna HC Follows Bombay HC’s Fomento Resorts and Gujarat HC’s Yasho Industries

The Patna High Court has upheld the validity of CBIC Circulars No. 3/3/2017-GST, 31/05/2018-GST and 169/01/2022-GST assigning functions of ‘proper officer’ to Central Tax officers, following the Bombay HC’s detailed reasoning in Fomento Resorts & Hotels Ltd. v. Union of India and the Gujarat HC’s decision in Yasho Industries Ltd. The ruling by Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Justice Sunil Dutta Mishra in CWJC No. 5336/2025 (M/s Moral Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., decided 18.09.2026) distinguishes the Supreme Court’s Canon India decision, holding that Canon India concerned officers of DRI who were admittedly not ‘officers of customs’ — whereas in the present case, there is no dispute that the officers are Central Tax officers, and the Circulars merely assign functions among already-appointed officers under Section 2(91) read with Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the CGST Act.

The court declined to adjourn the matter despite the petitioner pointing out that an appeal against the Bombay HC’s Fomento Resorts judgment is pending before the Supreme Court, observing that there was no direction from the Supreme Court to other High Courts not to entertain the issue. The writ petition was dismissed with liberty to file a statutory appeal within 30 days.

- 2026-juristway.com-2605-HC(Patna)-GST  |  High Court of Patna  |  CWJC No. 5336/2025  |  18.09.2026