M/S Geeta Enterprises vs. Union Of INDIA & Ors.

Held

The Court held that the petitioner's claim for refund of ITC for April 2018, filed on February 23, 2021, was to be considered on merits. The Court noted that the respondents had produced Notification No. 13/2022 – Central Tax, dated July 5, 2021, which relaxed the period of limitation for filing refund applications under Sections 54 and 55 of the CGST Act. This notification mandated the exclusion of the period commencing from March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2022. The learned counsel for the respondents fairly conceded that the petitioner's case was covered under this notification and that its claim required consideration on merits. Consequently, the impugned orders, namely the order-in-original dated May 11, 2021, and the order-in-appeal dated February 17, 2022, were set aside. The petitioner's refund application was restored to the Assistant Commissioner, CGST, Division Mayur Vihar, for a decision on merits within six weeks from the date of the order. The ratio decidendi is that statutory notifications providing for relaxation of limitation periods due to extraordinary circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, are to be applied to pending refund claims.

Facts

The petitioner, M/s Geeta Enterprises, challenged an order-in-original dated May 11, 2021, by respondent no. 2, which rejected its claim for Input Tax Credit (ITC) refund for April 2018 as time-barred. The petitioner had filed the refund application on February 23, 2021. The Adjudicating Authority held that this was beyond the two-year period from the relevant date under Section 54 of the CGST Act. An appeal filed by the petitioner was also rejected by respondent no. 3 on February 17, 2022, upholding the original order. The respondents, Union of India & Ors., later presented a notification dated July 5, 2021 (Notification No. 13/2022 – Central Tax), which relaxed the limitation period for refund applications by excluding the period from March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2022.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner's claim for refund of ITC for April 2018, filed on February 23, 2021, is time-barred under Section 54 of the Central Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017. Petitioner's contention: The petitioner argued that its refund application should be considered valid, implicitly relying on the subsequent notification that relaxed the limitation period. The petitioner's counsel did not explicitly argue on the interpretation of Section 54 but rather on the applicability of the relaxation notification. Revenue/State's contention: The respondents initially upheld the rejection of the refund claim as time-barred under Section 54 of the CGST Act. However, they subsequently produced Notification No. 13/2022 – Central Tax, dated July 5, 2021, which provided for the exclusion of the period from March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2022, for computing the limitation period for refund applications. The respondents fairly stated that the petitioner's case was covered by this notification and its claim should be considered on merits.