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IndiaAuditLens Law Library

Section 160 of the CGST Act, 2017

From the IndiaAuditLens Law Library

GST›CGST Act, 2017›Chapter XXI, Miscellaneous

At a glance

Entitlement and conditions

  • 160(1)Assessments, decisions, notices, summons and other actual or purported proceedings remain valid despite mere defects if they substantially conform to the relevant law’s intent, purposes and requirements.

Bars, duties and time limits

  • 160(2)Service cannot be questioned if the recipient already acted on the notice, order or communication, or did not challenge service in earlier proceedings based on it.

Procedure, powers and definitions

  • 160The law does not settle the dividing line between a curable defect and substantive non-conformity, or what conduct counts as acting upon a communication.

A mistake, defect or omission alone does not invalidate statutory proceedings that conform in substance and effect to the Act’s or existing law’s requirements. Service also cannot be challenged after the recipient has acted on the communication or failed to raise the issue in earlier proceedings. The section leaves the boundaries of substantive conformity and acting upon a communication unresolved.[1]

Text

The text below is the section as served by the CBIC tax information portal on 17 September 2026, with the portal's own amendment footnote markers (shown as small numerals before a bracket) and its footnotes.[1] The Act as published in the Gazette of India is the legal source.

Section 160, verbatim (show)

* Section 160. Assessment proceedings, etc., not to be invalid on certain grounds.-

(1) No assessment, re-assessment, adjudication, review, revision, appeal, rectification, notice, summons or other proceedings done, accepted, made, issued, initiated, or purported to have been done, accepted, made, issued, initiated in pursuance of any of the provisions of this Act shall be invalid or deemed to be invalid merely by reason of any mistake, defect or omission therein, if such assessment, re-assessment, adjudication, review, revision, appeal, rectification, notice, summons or other proceedings are in substance and effect in conformity with or according to the intents, purposes and requirements of this Act or any existing law.

(2) The service of any notice, order or communication shall not be called in question, if the notice, order or communication, as the case may be, has already been acted upon by the person to whom it is issued or where such service has not been called in question at or in the earlier proceedings commenced, continued or finalised pursuant to such notice, order or communication.

* Enforced w.e.f. 1st July, 2017.

Questions to answer on the file

Questions a reviewer answers from the engagement file, grouped by the part of the section they come from. They describe what the section asks; they do not decide it.

Defect saving 160(1)

Questions to answer on the file4 questions
Ticks stay in this browser only.

Service challenge restriction 160(2)

Questions to answer on the file4 questions
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Circulars and notifications

No circular or notification in the CBIC repository is recorded as citing this section.

Unsettled questions

The words of section 160 do not answer these questions. Where one decides a matter on the file, the answer depends on the position taken on it.

  1. What test distinguishes a curable mistake, defect or omission from lack of substantive conformity under section 160(1)? The text supplies no mechanical standard; competent judicial assessment is not replaced.
  2. What conduct amounts to having already acted upon the communication under section 160(2), including a response disputing service? The text does not define acted upon.

See also

References

  1. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. "Section 160. Assessment proceedings, etc, not to be invalid on certain grounds". Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, CBIC tax information portal. Retrieved 17 September 2026.

External links