GST Update

 Desk of CA. Praveen Sharma – 1090  Series (CAPS) 

 RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT IN THE CASE OF  Fruitful Buildcon v. State Tax Authorities

Rajasthan High Court Restores Delayed GST Appeal

The Rajasthan High Court granted relief to Fruitful Buildcon by restoring its GST appeal for adjudication on merits.

GST audit proceedings for FY 2018-19 were initiated under Section 65 of the RGST Act. A show-cause notice proposed a demand of ?41,09,961. Although the company submitted a detailed reply and requested a personal hearing, the adjudicating authority reportedly passed the order without granting the requested hearing. After dropping one ITC-related issue, it confirmed a demand of ?23,48,740.

The order was uploaded on the GST portal, but the employee responsible for monitoring the portal had already left the company. Consequently, the taxpayer claimed that it did not receive timely knowledge of the order and filed its appeal with a delay of 22 days.

The Appellate Authority rejected the appeal as being beyond the condonable period under Section 107 of the RGST Act.

The High Court observed that mere uploading of an order on the GST portal, without effective communication, should not defeat the taxpayer’s valuable statutory right of appeal. It condoned the delay and directed the Appellate Authority to decide the appeal on merits, subject to filing within 30 days.

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Regards
CAPS