Akash Agro Industries Limited Vs State of Gujarat & Ors (Gujarat High Court)
The Gujarat High Court allowed the writ petition challenging rejection of GST refund claims based on Circular No.181/13/2022-GST dated 12.11.2022 issued by the State authority. At the outset, the petitioner submitted that the issue was squarely covered by earlier judgments of the Coordinate Bench dated 12.02.2025 and 27.03.2025, which had examined an identically worded circular issued by the Central authority and held it to be Akash Agro Industries Limited Vs State of Gujarat & Ors (Gujarat High Court)tra vires.
The petitioner’s refund applications, pertaining to periods August–September 2018, November 2018, and January 2019, were rejected by the Assistant Commissioner on 23.11.2022 solely on the ground that the applications were filed after 18.07.2022, the date on which Notification No.09/2022 State Tax (Rate) came into force. These rejections were confirmed by the Appellate Authority on 30.11.2024 on the same reasoning. It was not disputed that the refund claims related to periods prior to 13.07.2022 and were filed within the statutory time limit prescribed under Section 54 of the GST Act, as extended by notifications.
The State fairly admitted that the Coordinate Bench, in its judgment dated 12.02.2025, had already declared a similarly worded circular to be ultra vires. In that decision, the Court had relied on earlier rulings to hold that an artificial classification of assessees based solely on the date of filing of refund applications—despite claims being within limitation and pertaining to earlier periods—was arbitrary, discriminatory, and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, as well as ultra vires Section 54 of the GST Act. The Court had further held that mere filing of a refund application after the cut-off date could not justify denial when the claim related to a prior eligible period.
