Writ Disposed as GST Appellate Tribunal Becomes Functional with Filing Timeline

Shiva Prasad Pattnaik Vs Commissioner (Orissa High Court)

Summary : The petitioner challenged an order dated 25 July 2022 passed by the CT & GST Officer, Bhubaneswar-II Circle, for the tax period April 2019 to March 2020 under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. This order was affirmed by the Appellate Authority on 27 March 2023. The petitioner approached the High Court on the ground that although a further statutory appeal lies under Section 112 of the GST Act before the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), such remedy was unavailable at the relevant time due to the non-constitution and non-functioning of the Tribunal, and an aggrieved person could not be left without a remedy.

The Standing Counsel for the CT & GST Department agreed that the GSTAT had not been constituted or made functional earlier, but contended that this did not exempt the petitioner from complying with the mandatory pre-deposit requirement under Section 112(8) of the GST Act. The provision requires payment of the admitted amount of tax, interest, fine, fee, and penalty in full, along with an additional ten per cent of the remaining disputed tax amount, subject to a maximum of twenty crore rupees, as a condition precedent for filing an appeal before the Tribunal.