The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), Thane Bench, has held that merely filing a petition before the Supreme Court in another case does not establish a uniform opinion of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) permitting departmental appeals below the prescribed monetary limit.
The bench of Ramesh Nair (Judicial Member) and Prallhad S. Paranjape (Technical Member) observed that the Board needs to issue a specific circular communicating its position on an issue and guiding field formations to contest it before higher forums.
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The department approached the Tribunal against an appellate decision that had granted relief to the taxpayer. The accompanying order summary broadly describes the underlying dispute as concerning short payment or non-payment of tax, without detailing the substantive tax controversy.
After examining the record, the Tribunal found that the departmental appeal involved ₹3,37,176.
The Bench considered CBIC Circular No. 207/1/2024-GST dated June 26, 2024, which, as recorded in the judgment, prescribes a ₹20 lakh monetary threshold for departmental appeals before GSTAT, subject to specified exceptions.
Since the disputed amount fell below this threshold, the department sought to bring its appeal within an exclusion under the circular.
Superintendent and Authorised Representative Usha Menon, appearing for the department, relied on paragraph 4(vi) of the circular.
She argued that the appeal fell within the exclusion category because the department had filed a petition before the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court’s judgment in the Godrej Boyce matter, arising from Writ Petition No. 3226 of 2019, involving an identical issue.
The department thus relied on its challenge in that separate matter to justify pursuing the present appeal despite the amount being below ₹20 lakh.
No one appeared on behalf of the respondent. The Tribunal proceeded after hearing the departmental representative and examining the record.
The Tribunal held that the existence of a Supreme Court challenge in another case was insufficient to establish a uniform opinion of the Board.
The Bench reasoned that the Board must issue a specific circular informing field formations of its opinion on the merits of an issue and directing them to contest the matter before higher forums.
Its reasoning distinguishes between the department pursuing litigation in an individual case and the Board communicating a uniform position for departmental litigation. On the record before it, the Supreme Court petition did not establish the basis necessary to invoke the claimed exception.
The Tribunal additionally noted that, according to the appeal record, the Supreme Court had not granted a stay on the operation of the order challenged in the petition relied upon by the department.
The Bench concluded that the present appeal did not fall within the exclusion category under the circular.
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