Bhakta Ram Purohit Vs Commissioner of CT and GST (Orissa High Court)
Orissa High Court granted interim relief to Bhakta Ram Purohit in a GST appeal due to the non-constitution of the Appellate Tribunal. The petitioner challenged the First Appellate Authority’s order dated May 31, 2024 but was unable to file an appeal before the Tribunal since it was not yet established. Referring to a previous order in Maa Tarini Traders v. State of Odisha (WP(C) No. 42015 of 2023), the petitioner sought a similar relief where the Court directed assessees to deposit 10% of the disputed tax amount at the time of filing an appeal, with an additional 20% of the remaining tax for the stay of the impugned order.
During proceedings, the petitioner argued that a subsequent notification issued on August 16, 2024, by the Central Government reduced the additional deposit requirement to 10%, which was later adopted by the State Government on October 29, 2024. Acknowledging this, the Court modified the relief, requiring the petitioner to deposit only 10% of the remaining disputed tax for the stay of the First Appellate Authority’s order. With this, the writ petition was disposed of, ensuring compliance with revised deposit requirements while allowing the petitioner to seek further recourse once the Appellate Tribunal is constituted.
