Facts of the case
Bharti Airtel Limited “The petitioners” is engaged in the business of providing telecommunication services. The Petitioner in its monthly GSTR- 3B recorded the ITC based on its estimate. As a result, when the Petitioner had to discharge the GST liability for the relevant period, the details of ITC available were not known and the Petitioner was compelled to discharge its tax liability in cash, although, actually ITC was available with it but was not reflected in the system on account of lack of data. The exact ITC available for the relevant period was discovered only later in the month October 2018, when the Government operationalized Form GSTR-2A for the past periods. Thereupon, precise details were computed and Petitioner realized that for the relevant period ITC had been under reported. The Petitioner alleges that there has been excess payment of taxes, by way of cash, to the tune of approximately INR 923 crores. This was occasioned to a great degree due to non-operationalization of Forms GSTR-2A, GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 and the system related checks which could have forewarned the petitioner about the mistake. Moreover, since there were no checks on the Form GSTR-3B which was manually filled up by the Petitioner, the excess payment of tax went unnoticed. Petitioner now desires to correct its returns, but is being prevented from doing so, as there is no enabling statutory procedure implemented by the Government.
Issue
Petitioner’s grievance is that there is no rationale for not allowing rectification in the month for which the statutory return has been filed. This is also totally contrary to the statutory scheme of the CGST Act, which provides that the data filled by a registered person will be validated in that month itself and thereafter any unmatched details are rectified in the month in which it is noticed. Accordingly, Petitioner impugns Rule 61 (5) From GSTR-3B and Circular No. 26/26/2017-GST dated 29-12-2017 as ultra vires the provisions of CGST Act to the extent, they do not provide for the modification of the information to be filled in the return of the tax period to which such information relates. The aforesaid provisions are also impugned on the ground that they are arbitrary, in violation of Articles 14, 19(1)(g), 265 and 300A of the Constitution of India.
Judgement by the High Court
The rectification of the return for that very month to which it relates is imperative and, accordingly, we read down para 4 of the impugned Circular No. 26/26/2017-GST dated 29-12-2017 to the extent that it restricts the rectification of Form GSTR-3B in respect of the period in which the error has occurred. Accordingly, we allow the present petition and permit the Petitioner to rectify Form GSTR-3B for the period to which the error relates, i.e. the relevant period from July, 2017 to September, 2017. We also direct the Respondents that on filing of the rectified Form GSTR-3B, they shall, within a period of two weeks, verify the claim made therein and give effect to the same once verified. In view of the fact that the final relief sought by the Petitioner has been granted and the petition is allowed, no separate order is required to be passed in the application seeking interim relief. Accordingly, the said application is disposed of as such.
Our Comment
The High Court has passed a path breaking judgement. The court’s decision comes at a time the telecom sector is passing through a troubled phase with cutthroat tariffs and intense competition. The failure of the government to operationalise the statutory returns GSTR 2, 2A and 3 prescribed under the CGST Act, cannot prejudice the assessee.
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