Naveen Oil Carrier PVT. LTD. vs. Assistant Commissioner Of Revenue, Bureau Of Investigation (North Bengal)Alipurduar Zone And Ors.

Held

The Court held that the appellate authority's order rejecting the appeals could not be sustained and was set aside. While acknowledging that the amendment to Rule 108 was introduced after the appeals were filed, the Court noted that the amendment was in effect when the appellate authority passed its impugned order. The Court found that the petitioner was unable to file appeals electronically because the orders were not uploaded on its portal, and in the absence of such uploads, the petitioner was prevented from filing electronically. The Court observed that the appellate authority's order appeared mechanical and failed to consider this subsequent development. The Court affirmed the petitioner's right to maintain the appeals. Consequently, the appeals were restored and remanded back to the appellate authority for disposal on merits within eight weeks, subject to the petitioner complying with other formalities.

Facts

The petitioner, Naveen Oil Carrier Pvt. Ltd., filed five appeals manually before the appellate authority against orders dated 23rd/24th February, 2023, issued under Section 129(3) of the WBGST/CGST Act, 2017, in Form GST DRC 07. The petitioner contended that the orders and demands were not uploaded on its portal, preventing electronic filing. The appellate authority, by an order dated 9th October, 2023, rejected these appeals, relying on Rule 108 of the WBGST/CGST Rules, 2017, as it stood at the time of filing, holding them to be barred by limitation. The present writ petition challenges this rejection order.

Key Issues

1. Whether the appellate authority erred in rejecting the appeals as barred by limitation, considering the petitioner's inability to file them electronically due to the non-uploading of the orders on its portal, and the subsequent amendment to Rule 108 of the WBGST/CGST Rules, 2017? Petitioner's arguments: The petitioner argued that once the appellate authority found the appeals to be not in order due to manual filing, it should not have rejected them on other grounds. It relied on the amended Rule 108, effective from 4th August, 2023, which permits manual filing if electronic filing is not possible due to non-availability of documents. The petitioner contended that this scenario applied to them, and the benefit of the amendment should be extended, especially given the absence of an Appellate Tribunal. Revenue's arguments: The learned Additional Government Pleader appeared for the respondents. No specific arguments for the revenue were recorded in the judgment.