Mahendra Suniani Vs Commissioner of Commercial Taxes And Goods And Services Tax (Orissa High Court)
The writ petition before the Orissa High Court challenged an assessment order dated 11 November 2022 passed by the State Tax Officer-cum-Proper Officer for the tax period April 2019 to March 2020 under Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The order was affirmed by the Appellate Authority on 30 June 2025.
The petitioner contended that although a statutory remedy of appeal is available under Section 112 of the GST Act before the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), such remedy was not effectively available because the GSTAT had not been constituted or made functional. It was argued that an aggrieved person cannot be rendered remediless due to the non-availability of the appellate forum.
The Standing Counsel for the CT & GST Department did not dispute the non-constitution and non-functioning of the GSTAT at the relevant time. However, it was strongly submitted that this circumstance does not absolve the appellant from complying with the mandatory pre-deposit requirements prescribed under Section 112(8) of the GST Act. The provision mandates that no appeal shall be filed unless the appellant pays, in full, the admitted amount of tax, interest, fine, fee, and penalty, and additionally deposits ten per cent of the remaining disputed tax, subject to a maximum of twenty crore rupees.
