Muhammed Abdul Saini Vs State Tax Officer (Kerala High Court)
Kerala High Court dismissed the writ appeal filed by Muhammed Abdul Saini against the judgment of a Single Judge that upheld Section 16(2)(c) of the CGST/SGST Act. The provision mandates that taxpayers claiming Input Tax Credit (ITC) must ensure their suppliers have actually remitted output tax to the government. The appellant challenged this requirement but was unsuccessful, as a Division Bench had already affirmed the Single Judge’s ruling in a previous case (Nahasshukoor v. Assistant Commissioner II Circle, Alappuzha). The court reiterated that the statutory provision had received judicial approval, making the appeal unsustainable on that ground.
However, the court took note of the appellant’s claim that an error in Form GSTR-3B had not been raised before the Single Judge during the initial writ proceedings. The Single Judge had granted the petitioner liberty to claim benefits under two GST circulars (Circular No. 183/15/2022-GST and Circular No. 193/5/2023-GST) by submitting an application within a month. Given the appellant’s request, the Division Bench extended this time limit by another month, allowing him to approach the assessing authority with both the circular-based claims and the correction of errors in Form GSTR-3B. The court directed the assessing authority to consider these claims as per the earlier judgment. Except for this modification, the Single Judge’s ruling remained upheld, and the appeal was disposed of accordingly.
