Sv Agro Foods Products vs. Assistant Commissioner (S.T.)

Held

The High Court, noting that a statutory appeal lies before the GSTAT under Section 112 of the GST Act, deemed it appropriate to relegate the petitioner to that remedy. The writ petition was disposed of, allowing the petitioner six weeks to avail the statutory appeal, with the period from the impugned order to the High Court's order excluded for limitation purposes.

Facts

The petitioner, an agro food products firm, challenged an appellate order confirming tax liability on mixed vegetable cut mango lime and raw/unripe mango pieces, classifying them under HSN Code 0812 (5% GST) instead of HSN Code 0711 (exempt). The original assessment was under Section 74 of the CGST Act, and the writ petition was filed because the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) was not constituted.

Key Issues

The key legal issue was the correct classification of the petitioner's products for GST purposes. A procedural issue was whether the High Court should entertain a writ petition when the statutory appellate tribunal (GSTAT) was not yet constituted.