LA-Gajjar Machineries Private Limited Vs Union of India & Ors. (Gujarat High Court)
The petitioner, a registered GST assessee engaged in manufacturing pumps and pump sets, filed a writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution seeking multiple reliefs. These included: a declaration that paragraph 12 of Circular No.125/44/2019-GST dated 18 November 2019—requiring rectified refund applications to be filed within two years from the “relevant date”—was ultra vires Section 54 of the CGST Act; quashing of Order-in-Appeal dated 9 November 2020 rejecting its refund claim; and consequential grant of refund of unutilized Input Tax Credit (ITC) under the inverted duty structure for December 2017 along with interest.
The petitioner received inputs taxed at 18% and 28%, whereas its output supplies attracted a lower rate, resulting in accumulated ITC eligible for refund under Section 54(3). The petitioner filed a refund application on 16 December 2019 for Rs. 1.22 crore relating to December 2017. The proper officer issued a deficiency memo on 27 December 2019 stating that supporting documents were not attached and that the online Statement-1A was incomplete. As per Rule 90(3), the petitioner filed a fresh refund application on 27 January 2020 for Rs. 1.19 crore. A second deficiency memo was issued on 11 February 2020 with the remark that invoices not appearing in GSTR-2A were shown as eligible in Annexure-B. The petitioner again filed a fresh application on 13 February 2020.
