Mobile City Communication Vs State Tax Officer (Kerala High Court)
Summary: The Kerala High Court considered a writ petition filed by M/s. Mobile City Communication, a registered taxpayer under the CGST/KGST Act, challenging Ext.P4 Order-in-Original passed under Section 73 of the CGST Act. The petitioner’s grievance was that input tax credit claimed for January, February and March 2019 had been declined on the ground that the returns were not submitted within the period stipulated under Section 16(4) of the Act. The petitioner had subsequently filed an application for rectification, which was rejected by Ext.P9.
The petitioner relied upon Section 16(5) of the Act and contended that where the taxpayer submitted the return within the cut-off date contemplated under that provision, the taxpayer would be entitled to the benefit of input tax credit. The judgment records the cut-off date relied upon by the petitioner as 31.11.2021. The Court noted that Ext.P4 itself disclosed that the returns for the relevant months had been submitted by the petitioner on 31.10.2019.
On the basis of the dates recorded in Ext.P4, the Court found that the petitioner was entitled to the benefit of Section 16(5) and held that interference was required. The Court therefore disposed of the writ petition by quashing Exts.P4 and P9 to the extent that they declined input tax credit for failure to file the returns within the period stipulated under Section 16(4).
