Appellant Authority Can’t Reject Appeal for Lack of Physical Order Copy

Rama Shanker Modi Vs Assistant Commissioner (Calcutta High Court)

Appellant Authority cannot reject appeal merely on the ground that order copy was not furnished physically

The Hon’ble Calcutta High Court in Rama Shanker Modi v the Assistant Commissioner, Central Goods And Services tax and Central Excise [WPA 15639 of 2023 dated July 20, 2023] set aside the impugned order and held that mere non filing of order physically within the time limit cannot be a valid ground to rejection of appeal.

Facts:

Mr. Rama Shanker Modi (“the Petitioner”) was aggrieved by the order of the Adjudicating Authority and filed an appeal before the Appellate Authority.  The Appellate Authority vide an order dated May 01, 2023 (“the Impugned Order”) dismissed the appeal of the Petitioner by stating that since the Petitioner had failed to produce the certified copy of the order which has been challenged and the appeal is time barred. However, the Petitioner has filed the appeal electronically before the Appellate Authority.

Aggrieved by the Impugned Order, the Petitioner filed writ before the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court challenging the impugned order.

Issue:

Whether the Revenue Department can reject the appeal merely on the ground that assessee has not filed physical copy of the order even though the order copy was filed electronically?

Held:

The Hon’ble Calcutta High Court in WPA 15639 of 2023 held as under:

• Observed that, the Petitioner was bonafide and made a mistake of not filing the appeal physically before the Appellate Authority within time.
• Held that, the Appellate Authority cannot rejected the appeal merely on the technical ground of not filing appeal physically before the authority without going into the merits.
• Set aside the impugned order and directed the Appellate Authority to accept the certified copy filed by the Petitioner beyond time and dispose the appeal in question in accordance with law and pass a speaking order after giving an opportunity of hearing to the Petitioner.

FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF CALCUTTA HIGH COURT

Heard learned advocate appearing for the parties.

By this writ petition, petitioner has challenged the impugned order of the appellate authority under CGST Act dated 1st May, 2023 dismissing the appeal of the petitioner on the technical ground of filing certified copy of the order against which appeal was filed as beyond time.

It is an admitted position that the appeal has been filed electronically within time but due to bonafide mistake of the petitioner it could not be filed within time.

Considering the facts and circumstances of this case and in the interest of justice and in view of the fact that the appeal of the petitioner was dismissed only on the technical ground without going into the merit, the aforesaid order of the appellate authority dated 1st May, 2023 is set aside and the matter is remanded back to the appellate authority concerned to accept the certified copy filed by the petitioner beyond time and consider and dispose of the appeal in question in accordance with law and by passing a reasoned and speaking order after giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner , within a period of four weeks from the date of communication of this order.

With this observation and direction this writ petition being WPA 15639 of 2023 stands disposed of.

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(Author can be reached at [email protected])