Otsuka Pharmaceutical India Pvt. Ltd Vs Union of India & Ors. (Gujarat High Court)
GST Appeals Revived for Wrongly Calculated Delay from submission of certified copies instead of From the date of Submission of Online Refund Application: Gujarat HC
The Gujarat High Court examined a petition challenging rejection of GST refund appeals on the ground of delay under Rule 108(3) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. The petitioner, a registered manufacturer and exporter of pharmaceutical products, had opted to export goods without payment of tax and sought refund of unutilised input tax credit under Section 16 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Refund applications were filed online within the prescribed time in July 2021. Following a show-cause notice, the adjudicating authority found a mismatch between export values declared in invoices and shipping bills, sanctioned the refund only partly, and rejected the balance. The petitioner filed appeals under Section 107 of the CGST Act and submitted certified copies of the orders during pendency. However, the appellate authority, invoking Rule 108(3), treated the submission of certified copies as delayed by 71 to 106 days and dismissed the appeals solely on limitation. Adopting reasons recorded in a contemporaneous decision in connected matters, the Gujarat High Court quashed the rejection orders and remanded the matters for de novo adjudication on merits after granting an opportunity of hearing. The Court clarified that it did not examine the merits and directed completion of the exercise within 12 weeks.
