Green Woods Vs Union of India & Anr. (Bombay High Court)
Summary: The Bombay High Court considered a writ petition filed by Green Woods, a firm registered under the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, challenging the Order-in-Appeal dated 4 August 2025 passed by the Commissioner, CGST and CX Appeals-II, Mumbai.
The Petitioner had been issued summons on 27 December 2021, following which an investigation was initiated. During the investigation, the Petitioner made deposits on four different occasions totalling Rs. 2,60,24,954/-. Upon completion of the investigation, a Show Cause Notice in GST DRC-01 under Section 74 read with Section 122 of the CGST Act was issued, alleging contravention of the Act and proposing recovery of tax along with interest and penalty. The Petitioner contested the Show Cause Notice by filing a Reply. Thereafter, the Joint Commissioner passed an Order-in-Original dated 26 December 2024 confirming the demand of ITC and imposing penalty upon the Petitioner.
Aggrieved by the Order-in-Original, the Petitioner preferred an appeal before the Appellate Authority. There was, however, a shortfall of Rs. 33,18,000/- towards the statutory 10% pre-deposit required for the appeal. On 1 April 2025, the Petitioner deposited the additional Rs. 33,18,000/-, thereby completing the statutory pre-deposit of 10%. Despite this, the appeal was dismissed by the Order-in-Appeal dated 4 August 2025 on the ground that the Petitioner had failed to pay the statutory pre-deposit as required under Section 107(6)(b) of the GST Act, 2017.
