The Bombay High Court has granted interim relief to a taxpayer on GST pre-deposit and held that no pre-deposit liability where proceedings began before 01.10.2025.
The bench of Justice M. S. Karnik and Justice Sandesh D. Patil directed that the appeal be accepted without insisting upon the pre-deposit, subject to further orders in the writ petition.
The central issue before the Bombay High Court concerned whether the requirement of making a pre-deposit could be insisted upon when the underlying proceedings originated before the statutory provision requiring such deposit came into force.
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Vishal Agarwal a/w Mr. Deep Shah, the Counsel for the petitioner contended that the appellate authority was not justified in insisting upon a pre-deposit because the relevant provision came into force only from October 1, 2025. According to the submissions recorded by the Court, the show-cause notice in the matter had been issued much earlier, on June 15, 2023, and the adjudication order was subsequently passed on January 14, 2024.
The petitioner argued that an appeal is a continuation of the original proceedings. Consequently, where the penalty had been imposed under the unamended statutory provision and there was no requirement of making a pre-deposit at that stage, the subsequently introduced pre-deposit condition could not be imposed for pursuing the appeal.
The Bombay High Court noted that, prima facie, the controversy appeared to be squarely covered by the decision of the Delhi High Court in Gaurav Jain & Anr. v. The Joint Commissioner (Appeals-II), CGST Delhi Zone & Anr., decided in W.P.(C) No. 8414 of 2026 along with connected applications.
The reference to the Delhi High Court ruling assumes significance because the Bombay High Court’s interim order indicates that the legal controversy regarding the applicability of the newly introduced pre-deposit requirement to older proceedings had already received consideration by another High Court.
The Bench recorded that it found prima facie substance in the petitioner’s contention. The Court consequently granted ad-interim relief in terms of the relevant prayer clause.
The Court specifically directed that if the petitioner chooses to file an appeal against the order passed in the original proceedings, the appeal should be accepted without insisting upon the condition of pre-deposit. However, the Court made it clear that this waiver is provisional and remains subject to further orders that may be passed in the writ petition.
The Court issued notice to the respondents. Counsel appearing for the Union of India waived service of notice on behalf of all the respondents, and the respondents were granted two weeks’ time to take instructions.
The matter has been directed to be listed next on September 8, 2026.
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