Medha Servo Drives Private Limited Vs Union of India (Kerala High Court)
Kerala HC Dismisses Writ as GST Appeal Filed After Three-Year Delay Despite Claim of No Email/SMS Alerts
The petitioner, a registered taxpayer under the CGST and SGST Acts, 2017, filed a writ petition seeking directions to the appellate authority to accept and dispose of an appeal on merits despite delay. The petitioner challenged Ext.P1 order dated 23.09.2022 and sought enlargement of time for filing the appeal under Section 107 of the Act. The appeal (Ext.P7) was filed on 08.09.2025, nearly three years after the issuance of the original order. The petitioner contended that they were unaware of the order as no email or SMS alert was received, though the order had been uploaded on the GST portal. They also sought dispensation of delay and exemption from filing translations of vernacular documents.
The Court examined the statutory framework under Section 107, which prescribes a three-month limitation period for filing an appeal, with a further condonable period of one month upon sufficient cause. The Court noted that the appeal was filed well beyond this permissible period. It observed that under Section 169 of the Act, service of notice through uploading on the web portal is contemplated and there was no dispute that Ext.P1 had been uploaded. The Court held that the Act does not envisage mandatory email or SMS alerts for valid service.
