The Delhi High Court has held that the GST commissioner cannot review orders passed by appellate authority.

The bench of Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Dharmesh Sharma has observed that the Commissioner, while seeking to review an order passed under the Act and in purported exercise of powers vested by Section 107(2), cannot possibly sit over and above an order passed by the appellate authority. The power enshrined in Section 107(2) is concerned with the examination of the record of proceedings which may have been undertaken by an adjudicating authority. It clearly does not contemplate the Commissioner seeking to even attempt to review an order passed by the appellate authority. 

The bench stated that the power  wielded by the Commissioner with reference to Section 107(2) is rendered unsustainable.

The petitioner/assessee is stated to have applied for refund for the period April 2018 to March 2019 in terms of two applications dated 04 July 2019 and 09 July 2019. Two deficiency memos came to be issued by the respondents while considering the aforesaid applications. It is the case of the writ petitioner that the deficiency memos were duly attended to and all material duly supplied.

Since the refund was not released even thereafter, the petitioner is stated to have approached the respondents by way of representations dated 13 February 2020 and 27 February 2020.

The court allowed the writ petition and quashed the order of 24 May 2024.

Case Details

Case Title: M/S G.S Industries Versus Commissioner Of Central Tax And GST, Delhi

Case No.:  W.P.(C) 13149/2024

Date: 16.12.2024

Counsel For Petitioner: Siddharth Malhotra

Counsel For Respondent: Aditya Singla