Fridgehouse Retail Private Limited vs. GST Council

Held

The Court acknowledged that the petitioner, along with many other taxpayers, had faced technical glitches on the GST portal. The Court referred to a circular issued by the Government of India establishing an IT Grievance Redressal Mechanism to address such issues. The circular outlines a procedure where taxpayers can apply to nodal officers with evidence of a demonstrable glitch that prevented them from completing the due process. The Court, following its previous practice in similar cases, directed the petitioner to apply to the Nodal Officer. The Nodal Officer is to examine the issue and facilitate the petitioner's uploading of FORM GST TRAN-1, irrespective of the time-frame. If uploading is not possible for reasons not attributable to the petitioner, the authority is to enable the petitioner to take credit of the input tax available at the time of migration. The petitioner was given two weeks to apply, and the Nodal Officer was directed to consider it and take steps within a week thereafter.

Facts

The petitioner, Fridgehouse Retail Private Limited, a registered dealer who migrated from the Kerala Value Added Tax Act to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, sought to claim input tax credit available at the time of migration. To avail this credit, the petitioner was required to upload FORM GST TRAN-1 within the stipulated time. The petitioner claims that despite attempting to upload the form within the deadline, it failed due to a system error on the GST portal. Consequently, the petitioner approached the High Court seeking directions to enable them to take credit of the available input tax.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner should be permitted to upload FORM GST TRAN-1 beyond the stipulated time due to alleged system errors, thereby enabling them to claim input tax credit? (Question of mixed law and fact, concerning the interpretation and application of GST provisions related to transitional credit and the impact of technical glitches). Petitioner's contention: The petitioner argued that they attempted to upload FORM GST TRAN-1 within the prescribed time but failed due to technical glitches on the GST portal. They relied on the principle that genuine attempts to comply with the law should not be frustrated by technical failures and sought directions to allow them to upload the form and claim credit. Revenue's contention: The judgment does not explicitly record any specific arguments made by the revenue or state respondents. However, the court's directions suggest an acknowledgment of the issue of technical glitches affecting taxpayers.