Ocean Ceratech Private Limited Vs State of Rajasthan (Rajasthan High Court)
Summary: The Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench, considered Ocean Ceratech Private Limited’s writ petition against the rejection of its GST appeal as time-barred. The dispute arose from an order-in-original dated 23.08.2024 concerning financial year April 2019 to March 2020. A show cause notice dated 08.05.2024 under Section 73 of the CGST/RGST Act had proposed a demand of Rs. 7,78,999/- for alleged differences in outward tax liability, excess input tax credit and interest relating to delayed returns. The company appealed on 15.04.2025, with a stated delay of 115 days. The appellate authority dismissed the appeal on 22.06.2026, holding that it lacked power to condone the delay.
The petitioner submitted that the notice, Form GST DRC-01 and adjudication order were unsigned and only uploaded to the GST portal, without effective service. Its director, who managed GST compliance, was undergoing prolonged medical treatment, and the portal was not monitored regularly. According to the petitioner, it learned of the demand when contacted for recovery in April 2025 and then promptly appealed. The respondents maintained that the appeal was barred by limitation.
The Court recognised that the appellate authority is bound by Section 107’s statutory limits, but found that failure to consider the appeal on its merits in these circumstances would cause grave prejudice. It referred to its earlier Division Bench decisions, including M R Traders, Molana Construction Company, Man Singh Tanwar and two RPC PSIPL JV matters. It also expressly agreed with the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s reasoning in Luxmi Traders concerning service solely through portal upload and appeals rejected on limitation.
