Patanjali Foods Ltd. Vs Union of India & Ors. (Gujarat High Court)
Gujarat High Court held that notification no. 9/2022-Central Tax dated 13.07.2022 is prospectively effective from 18.07.2022. Said notification doesn’t have retrospective effect. Hence, refund pertaining to period prior to 13.7.2022 cannot be affected by such notification.
Facts- The petitioner is inter-alia, engaged in the manufacture and sale of edible oil. According to the petitioner, the rate of tax on output supplies made by the petitioner exceeds the rate of tax on input supplies. Therefore, the petitioner qualifies for refund under the inverted duty structure scheme, as per Section 54(3) of the Central/Gujarat Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
Notification No.9/2022-Central Tax, dated 13.07.2022, was issued by the Central Government, notifying certain goods, including edible oil, as ineligible for a refund under the inverted duty structure. The said Notification was made effective from 18.07.2022. The petitioner submitted a refund application dated 05.12.2023 for the period from February 2021 to March 2021 u/s. 54(3) of the GST Act.
On 27.12.2023, the petitioner received a show cause in Form GST-RFD-08 proposing to reject the refund application on the ground that there was an existing demand against the petitioner on the GST portal. The respondent accepted the petitioner’s explanation and granted the refund after passing a sanction order dated 12.01.2024.
