East INDIA Shipping Agency Represented Through Its Proprietor Debabrata Majumder vs. State Of West Bengal And Ors.
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The petitioner, East India Shipping Agency, filed a writ petition seeking a direction to allow them to file an appeal under Section 107 of the West Bengal GST/CGST Act, 2017, limited to the tax periods 2020-21 to 2022-23. A show cause notice was issued on September 21, 2023, under Section 74 for the period April 2018 to March 2023, and an order was passed on December 18, 2023. The petitioner contended that the proper officer did not appropriately consider their response. The petitioner wished to appeal only a part of the order, but the online portal only allowed for a composite appeal, causing them prejudice. The State argued that an appeal from a part of the order was permissible if the petitioner complied with Section 107(6)(a) and (b) of the Act.
Held
The Court held that the petitioner could file an appeal from part of the order dated December 18, 2023, provided certain conditions were met. The Court directed that in the event the petitioner makes payment of the entirety of the tax, interest, fine, fee, and penalty payable under Section 107(6)(a) of the said Act in respect of the determination made for the tax periods for which the petitioner is not interested in preferring an appeal, and pays a sum equal to 10% of the remaining amount of the tax in dispute arising from the said order in respect of the tax periods which form the subject matter of the appeal, then the Appellate Authority should admit and hear the appeal on merits. The appeal, if filed within three weeks from the date of the order, upon compliance with these conditions, should be considered and disposed of on merits within eight weeks from the date of filing, after giving the petitioner an opportunity of hearing. The writ petition was disposed of with these directions.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner can be permitted to file an appeal under Section 107 of the West Bengal GST/CGST Act, 2017, limited to specific tax periods (2020-21 to 2022-23) when the order under challenge pertains to a broader period (April 2018 to March 2023)? Petitioner's contention: The petitioner argued that they have been advised to appeal only for the tax periods 2020-21 to 2022-23 and that the online portal's inability to facilitate a partial appeal is causing them irreparable prejudice. Revenue's contention: The State, relying on Section 107(6) of the said Act, submitted that filing an appeal from a part of the order is possible, provided the petitioner complies with the pre-deposit requirements stipulated in Section 107(6)(a) and (b). Specifically, they argued that the petitioner should pay in full the tax, interest, fine, fee, and penalty for the periods they are not appealing.
Sections Cited
Section 107, Section 74, Section 107(6), Section 107(6)(a), Section 107(6)(b)
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Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
order is passed permitting the petitioner to prefer the appeal from part of the order dated 18th December, 2023, to the extent indicated hereinabove, the petitioner shall suffer irreparable prejudice.
Mr. Chakraborty, learned Advocate representing the respondents, by placing reliance on Section 107(6) of the said Act, submits that there cannot be any difficulty on the part of the petitioner to prefer an appeal from a part of the order under Section 74 of the said Act provided, the petitioner complies with the provisions of Section 107(6)(a) and (b) of the said Act.
He submits since, the petitioner is only interested to prefer an appeal for the tax period 2020-21 to
3 2022-23, the petitioner should pay in full, the amount of tax, interest, fine, fee and penalty arising out of the order dated 18th December, 2023 insofar as the tax period for which the petitioner is not interested to prefer an appeal.
Heard the learned Advocates appearing for the respective parties and taking into consideration the materials on record, I am of the view that in the event the petitioner makes payment with the concerned respondents the entirety of the amount of tax, interest, fine, fee and penalty payable under Section 107(6)(a) of the said Act, in respect of determination made for the tax period for which the petitioner is not interested to prefer the appeal and pays a sum equal to 10 per cent of the remaining amount of the tax in dispute arising from the said order in respect of the tax period which forms subject matter of appeal, there cannot be any difficulty on the part of the respondents to admit the said appeal and hear out the same on merits.
Having regard to the above, if the appeal is filed within a period of three weeks from date, upon compliance of the conditions as indicated above, the Appellate Authority in such case would be obliged to consider and dispose of the said appeal on merits within a period of eight weeks from the
4 date of filing of such appeal upon giving opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.
With the aforesaid directions, writ petition stands disposed of.
There shall be no order as to costs. Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be made available to the parties upon compliance with the necessary 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.