HC allows Filing of GST Form TRAN-1 or TRAN-2 online/manually

R.R. Distributors Pvt. Ltd Vs Commissioner Of Central Tax, GST (Delhi High Court)

In our view, the non- filing of part 7B of table 7(a) and table 7(d) of TRAN-1 Form cannot impair the rights of the petitioner to claim transitional ITC, if he is otherwise eligible. This Court has observed in numerous decisions that the GST system was in a trial-and-error phase as far as its implementation was concerned and ever since GSTN network became operational, taxpayers genuinely faced difficulties in filing the returns and input tax credit in the GST portal. Acknowledging the procedure and difficulties in claiming input tax credit, this Court and several other High Courts have granted relief to such taxpayers. Failure on the part of the Petitioner to give relevant details in TRAN-1 Form can only be taken as a procedural lapse which should not cause any impediment to its right to claim transitional ITC.

We also find force in the submissions of Mr. Jain that the taxpayers were not provided sufficient time to upload the data in TRAN-2 Form. On ^4th January, 2018, when the Petitioner attempted to load TRAN-2 Form, no time had been specified under the Rules, which could be deemed to be mandatory. The time period was introduced on 7^th March, 2018 through Notification No. 12/2018-CT. By virtue of this notification, in terms of Rule 117(4)(iii)(b), the time period was specified to be up to 31^st March, 2018. Thus, even if the retrospective amendment to Section 140, (introduced through Section 128 of the Finance Act, 2020) is taken into consideration, there cannot be any denying the fact that on the date when the Petitioner made an attempt, no time period had been specified. On 7^th March, 2018 when the notification was introduced, specifying the time, the Petitioner had already attempted to load TRAN-2 Form, which was denied on the ground of non-filing in part 7B of table 7(a) as well as table 7(d) of TRAN-1 Form.

In this view of the matter, we see no reason to deny the Petitioner therelief as sought for in the petition. Accordingly, the petition is allowed, and we direct the Respondents to either open the online portal so as to enable the Petitioner to file the rectified TRAN-1 Form electronically, or accept the same manually with necessary corrections, on or before 30^th June, 2021. The Petitioner will thereafter be permitted to correspondingly file the TRAN-2 Form which also shall be accepted either electronically by opening the online portal, or manually.

FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF DELHI HIGH COURT

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