Gujarat High Court Quashes Order Dismissing GST Appeal Filed Manually Due To Non-Availability Of Order On Portal
Gujarat High Court Quashes Order Dismissing GST Appeal Filed Manually Due To Non-Availability Of Order On Portal
The Gujarat High Court has quashed the order dismissing GST appeal filed manually due to non-availability of order on portal.
The bench of Justice Bhargav D. Karia and Justice D.N.Ray has observed that there is total non- application of mind to the facts of the case that the appeal was filed manually due to non-availability of the order-in-original on GST portal. The impugned order passed by department is therefore set aside.
The petitioners/assessees preferred an appeal by filing FORM GST APL-01 manually along with a letter, contending that the order-in- original passed by the Assistant Commissioner was not available on GST portal with FORM GST DRC 07 but the same was served and physically received and as such, the petitioners were not able to file the appeal electronically and the appeal was filed manually after payment of pre-deposit of Rs.57,87,800 being 10% of the disputed dues as per section 107(6) of the GST Act.
The Appellate Authority, however, by the order, rejected the appeal on the ground that the petitioners did not file the appeal electronically as provided under Rule 108 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017.
The assessees contended the Appellate Authority, without considering the provisions of Rule 108(1) of the GST Rules, rejected the appeal ignoring the fact that the petitioners could not have preferred an appeal as the order was not available on the GST portal and the Appellate Authority was empowered to accept the appeal manually as the petitioners could not file the appeal electronically due to non-availability of the order- in-original.
The court noted that the Appellate Authority has failed to comply with the provisions of Rule 108(1) of the GST Rules and ignoring the fact that the order-in-original was not available on GST portal so as to enable the petitioner to file the appeal electronically, the Appellate Authority ought to have considered the appeal filed by the petitioner manually and could not have rejected the same on technical ground, that the appeal was not filed electronically.
The court noted that the petitioner has followed the procedure prescribed under the GST Rules by filing an appeal manually due to non-availability of order-in-original on GST portal. The Appellate Authority has not even bothered to look into GST portal as to whether the order-in-original was uploaded and in spite of the order being available on GST portal, the petitioners did not file the appeal electronically. The Appellate Authority, without arriving at such an attitude, mechanically and without application of mind.
The court remanded the matter to the Appellate Authority to consider the appeal filed by the petitioners on merit within a period of 12 weeks from the date of receipt of the order.
Case Details
Case Title: M/S Appolo Sesame Industries & Anr. Versus Assistant Commissioner Of Cgst, Division X, Nadiad & Ors.
Case No.: R/Special Civil Application No. 571 Of 2025
Date: 24/04/2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Krutarth K Desai
Counsel For Respondent: Mr Abhay Y Desai
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Mariya is the Senior Editor at JurisHour. She has 5+ years of experience on covering tax litigation stories from the Supreme Court, High Courts and various tribunals including CESTAT, ITAT, NCLAT, NCLT, etc. Mariya graduated from MLSU Law College, Udaipur (Raj.) with B.A.LL.B. and also holds an LL.M. She started as a freelance tax reporter in the leading online legal news companies like LiveLaw & Taxscan.
