Star Light House And Anr. vs. The Commissioner, West Bengal Goods And Services Tax And Ors.

WPA/16726/2025HC CalcuttaGSTCNR WBCHCA033964202503 September 2025Bench: HON'BLE JUSTICE RAJA BASU CHOWDHURY3 pages

AI SummaryRemanded

Facts

The petitioners, Star Light House & Anr., filed a writ petition challenging an order dated 9th June, 2025, passed by the appellate authority under Section 107 of the WB GST/CGST Act, 2017. This order rejected their appeal against an order dated 29th July, 2024, passed under Section 73 of the said Act for the tax period 2019-20. The rejection was based on a delay of 56 days in filing the appeal. The petitioners attributed this delay to the terminal illness and subsequent death of the mother of one of their partners, Mir Kamal Hossain, who was responsible for taxation matters. The petitioners had already made a pre-deposit of Rs. 1,26,832/-. An order of attachment in Form GST DRC 13, related to the demand in Form GST DRC 07 dated 29th July, 2024, was also in effect.

Held

The Court held that the appellate authority had mechanically rejected the appeal without appropriately considering the petitioners' explanation for the delay. While acknowledging that discretion is vested in the appellate authority under Section 107, the Court emphasized that such discretion must be exercised judiciously. The Court found that the explanation provided by the petitioners, relating to the severe medical condition and death of a partner's mother, constituted a sufficient cause for the delay. The Court reasoned that the petitioners could not be penalized for a delay in filing an appeal when they had complied with statutory provisions regarding filing returns. Consequently, the order of the appellate authority was set aside. The Court condoned the delay and remanded the matter back to the appellate authority to hear and dispose of the appeal on its merits expeditiously, preferably within twelve weeks. The Court also quashed the order of attachment issued in Form GST DRC 13, noting that the pre-deposit had already been made and the attachment was in relation to the demand for the tax period 2019-20.

Key Issues

1. Whether the appellate authority exercised its discretion judiciously in rejecting the appeal on grounds of delay, considering the explanation provided by the petitioners? (Question of law and fact, concerning Section 107 of the WB GST/CGST Act, 2017). The petitioners argued that the delay was caused by a genuine personal hardship, specifically the terminal illness and death of a partner's mother, which prevented them from diligently pursuing the appeal. They contended that the appellate authority mechanically rejected the appeal without considering this explanation. The State (revenue) did not record any specific arguments against the petitioners' explanation for the delay in the judgment.

Sections Cited

Section 107, Section 73

AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below

Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances

13 03.09.2025 sb Ct.5. IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION APPELLATE SIDE WPA 16726 of 2025 Star Light House & Anr. Versus The Commissioner West Bengal Goods and Services Tax & Ors. Mr. Palash Majumder Mr. Siddhartha Das Gupta Mr. Souvik Guha … For the petitioners. Mr. A. Roy, Ld. GP Mr. S. Ganguly Mr. Tanoy Charkaborty Mr. Saptak Sanyal … For the State. 1. Affidavit of service filed in Court is taken on record. 2. Challenging the order dated 9th June, 2025, rejecting the appeal under Section 107 of the WBGST/CGST Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the “said Act”) on the ground of delay of 56 days, the instant writ petition has been filed. 3. Records would reveal that being aggrieved by the order passed under Section 73 of the said Act dated 29th July, 2024 for the tax period 2019-20 an appeal had been filed. The petitioners contend that since the mother of one of the partners of the petitioner no.1, Mir Kamal Hossain who was looking after the taxation matter, had been terminally ill and was suffering from cancer and eventually died on 15th December, 2024, as such the said 2 WPA 16726 of 2025 partner could not keep track, which resulted in delayed filing of the appeal. 4. Having heard the learned advocates appearing for the respective parties I find that the appellate authority had mechanically rejected the appeal without appropriately considering the aforesaid explanation. It is unfortunate that despite the fact that the appellate authority had taken note of the above and the medical condition of the petitioners’ partner such explanation was not found to be sufficient, since, the petitioners had complied with the statutory provision of filing the return and the delay was only regarding filing of appeal. In my view, the petitioners cannot be penalized for filing the return. It is true that a discretion is vested in the appellate authority, however, such discretion must be exercised judiciously. In the instant case, the above does not appear to be judicious exercise of discretion by the appellate authority. The order passed by the appellate authority cannot be sustained and the same is accordingly set aside and the matter is remanded back to the appellate authority. 5. Further since, no useful purpose will be served by directing the appellate authority to reconsider the issue of condoning the delay and noting that the petitioner has been able to make out sufficient cause for the delay, while condoning the delay, the matter is remanded back. The appellate authority shall hear out and dispose of the appeal on merits as expeditiously as possible, preferably 3 WPA 16726 of 2025 within a period of twelve weeks from the date of

communication of this order.

Further noting that the petitioners have already made a pre-deposited for a sum of Rs.1,26,832/- I am of the view that the order of attachment issued in From GST DRC 13 cannot be sustained which appears to be in relation to enforcement of the demand in Form GST DRC 07 dated 29th July, 2024, for the tax period 2019-20. The same is accordingly quashed.

With the above observations and directions, the writ petition is disposed of.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the parties upon compliance with the requisite formalities.

(Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.)

Reproduced from the public record of the Calcutta High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.