Pankajam Plastics Vs Muthiah Athinarayanan & Ors (GSTAT Chennai)
Summary: The Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal, Chennai Bench considered whether Filing No. 2026133/10100/0064 filed by Pankajam Plastics was maintainable when the appeal before the First Appellate Authority had not yet resulted in an order.
The Appellant/Applicant submitted that it had filed an appeal before the First Appellate Authority in APL-01 and also filed the GSTAT appeal in APL-05 on the same day, 19.03.2026, stating that the Department was undertaking recovery proceedings. The Respondent-State Government drew the Bench’s attention to its submissions dated 28.07.2026 and, particularly, to APL-02, which had been rejected on 24.06.2026 by the Deputy Commissioner, CT Appeals, being the First Appellate Authority.
The Registry raised a defect because the GSTAT appeal had been filed before the rejection order of the First Appellate Authority came into existence. After hearing both sides and examining the records, the Bench found that Filing No. 2026133/10100/0064 had been filed on 19.03.2026, whereas no order under Section 112(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 was then in existence because the First Appellate Authority had not yet passed its order.
The central question before the Bench was whether an aggrieved person could approach GSTAT under Section 112 of the CGST Act, 2017 in the absence of an order passed under Section 107 or Section 108.
The Bench reproduced the substance of Section 112(1), under which an aggrieved person may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against an order passed under Section 107 or Section 108. Applying that statutory requirement to the facts, the Bench noted that when the Appellant filed the GSTAT appeal on 19.03.2026, there was no First Appellate Authority order in existence. The APL-02 rejection was subsequently issued on 24.06.2026, after the GSTAT filing.
The Tribunal therefore held that Filing No. 2026133/10100/0064 was not in accordance with Section 112(1) because the First Appellate Authority order was not in existence when the appeal was filed. The question was accordingly decided negatively against the Applicant/Appellant.
Consequently, the appeal was held to be not maintainable and was dismissed. However, the Tribunal granted liberty to the Applicant/Appellant to file an appeal with GSTAT, if desired, in accordance with law.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF GSTAT
1. The Filing No. 2026133/10100/0064 is taken up by the Bench.
2. Ld. Authorized representative of the Applicant/Appellant and Ld. Representative for the Respondent (State Government) were present.
3. Ld. Authorized representative of the Applicant/Appellant submitted and uploaded Paper book and its enclosures. She has argued that they had filed appeal with First Appellate authority APL-01 and also with GSTAT APL-05 on the same day i.e. 19-03-2026 as the Department was doing recovery process.
4. Ld. Representative for the Respondent (State Government) has drawn attention to their submissions dt 28-07-2026 particularly to the APL-02 Rejected dt 24-06-2026 by the First Appellate Authority i.e. Deputy Commissioner, CT Appeals.
5. The Registry of this Bench raised the defect that the appeal was filed by the Appellant prior to the rejection order of the First Appellate Authority.
6. Heard both the Ld. Authorised Representative of the Applicant/Appellant and Ld. Representative for the Respondent (State Government).
7. The Bench perused the records and found that the appeal filing No. 2026133/10100/0064 was filed on 19.03.2026 prior to passing of an Order under Section 107 or 108 of the CGST,2017.
8. The question is whether person aggrieved can file an appeal with GSTAT under Section 112 of the CGST Act, 2017 in the absence of an order passed under Section 107 or 108 of this CGST Act.
9. As per Section 112(1) of the CGST Act, 2017– Appeal to Appellate Tribunal “ any person aggrieved by an order passed against him under Section 107 or 108 of this Act …… may appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against such order…..”
10. Ld. Appellant /Applicant filed filing No. 2026133/10100/0064 on 19.03.2026. On that date, no First Appellate Authority Order was in existence. It is noticed that APL-02 was rejected on 24.06.2026 by the First Appellate Authority i.e. the Dy Commissioner, CT Appeal after filing of appeal with GSTAT.
11. The Bench is of the view that Filing No. 2026133/10100/0064 is not in accordance with Section 112(1) of the CGST Act, 2017, as the First Appellate Authority Order was not in existence at the time of filing of this Appeal. Accordingly the question is decided negative against the Applicant/Appellant Filing No. 2026133/10100/0064.
12. Thus the Appeal is not maintainable and hence the Appeal is hereby dismissed with liberty to the Applicant/Appellant to file an appeal with GSTAT, if they desire so, in accordance with law.
