Manoj Kumar Vs State of Uttar Pradesh (Allahabad High Court)
GST Appeals Cannot Be Rejected as Time-Barred Without Proving Date Of GST Order Communication Allahabad High
The Allahabad High Court decided a batch of writ petitions challenging appellate orders passed under the Uttar Pradesh GST Act, 2017. The petitioners’ appeals against assessment/adjudication orders had been dismissed by the appellate authorities solely on the ground of delay and limitation, without examining the merits of the disputes. Aggrieved by these dismissals, the petitioners approached the High Court.
The State raised a preliminary objection regarding maintainability, arguing that the petitioners had an alternative statutory remedy of second appeal before the GST Appellate Tribunal under Sections 112 and 113 of the GST Act. It was contended that the Tribunal possessed wide powers to adjudicate disputes, including confirming, modifying, annulling, or remanding matters, and therefore the petitioners should not invoke the writ jurisdiction of the High Court.
The petitioners opposed this objection by relying on earlier decisions of the Allahabad High Court, particularly M/S Bambino Agro Industries Limited v. State of U.P., M/s Associate Molasses Transport Company v. State of U.P., and M/s A.S. Engineering v. State of U.P., which had addressed similar issues relating to limitation and communication of orders under the GST regime.
