Case Law Details
Sales Tax Bar Association (Regd.) & Anr Vs Union of India (Delhi High Court)
Learned counsel for the petitioner also submits that in respect of the financial year 2018-19, the GSTR 9, GSTR 9A and GSTR 9C Form have still not been uploaded and, consequently, even though the last date of filing of the same was 31.12.2019, the assessees have not been able to upload the Form. The date of filing of the same now stands extended till 31.03.2020.
We fail to appreciate as to why the respondents should not make Forms available and operationalise them well in advance, so that the assessees are able to file their returns in Form GSTR 9, GSTR 9A and GSTR 9C promptly, at the earliest. Financial year, in respect of each year, ends on 31stMarch and it should be possible for the assessees to upload their Forms soon thereafter. They should not have to wait for filing of the returns in the prescribed forms till the last date. In the present case, it appears that the respondents have been revising the Forms and in respect of the financial year 2018-19, the requisite forms have not yet been operationalised. Therefore, even those assessees, who could have, and may have attempted to upload their annual returns in the prescribed Forms for the financial year 2018-19, have been prevented from doing so. This situation is completely unsatisfactory.
Learned counsel for the respondents have sought to justify the non-operationalisation of the requisite return form for the financial year 2018-19, on the ground that they have extended the last date for filing of the Annual Return for the financial year 2017-18 up to 31.01.2020, and so as to prevent confusion in the mind of the assessees, they would operationalise forms for the financial year 2018-19 from 01.02.2020. We are not satisfied with this explanation, since it should be possible to upload the returns for both the years 2017-18 and 2018-19 simultaneously.
FULL TEXT OF INTERIM ORDER OF DELHI HIGH COURT
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