Topsel Private Limited vs. Goods & Service Tax Council Secretariat & Ors
Facts
The petitioner, Topsel Private Limited, sought to file a revised TRAN-I Form due to inadvertent mistakes in the original filing. Their repeated representations to the CGST authority, dated July 10, 2018, July 30, 2018, and January 29, 2019, were rejected by a single-line, non-speaking order dated April 10, 2019. This order did not address the petitioner's contentions. The petitioner argued that the rejection order was arbitrary and failed to consider their submissions. The matter was brought before the High Court through a writ petition.
Held
The Court held that the rejection order dated April 10, 2019, passed by the Assistant Commissioner, CGST Authority, was a non-speaking order and did not deal with the contentions raised by the petitioner in their representations. The Court found merit in the petitioner's argument that the order was arbitrary and lacked proper reasoning. Relying on the various High Court decisions cited by the petitioner, the Court directed the Assistant Commissioner, Nodal Officer IT Glitch/respondent concerned GST and Central Excise, to reconsider and dispose of the petitioner's representations. This reconsideration must be done in accordance with the law, by passing a reasoned and speaking order that specifically addresses the petitioner's contentions and takes into account the cited judicial precedents. The petitioner is to be granted an opportunity of hearing before a final decision is made. The Court did not expressly leave any issue undecided.
Key Issues
1. Whether the rejection order dated April 10, 2019, passed by the CGST authority, is a valid and speaking order, considering the representations made by the petitioner regarding the filing of revised TRAN-I Form. Petitioner's contentions: The petitioner argued that the rejection order was a non-speaking order, failing to address the specific contentions raised in their multiple representations. They contended that the authority should have considered their plea to file a revised TRAN-I Form due to inadvertent errors in the original filing, especially in light of various High Court decisions supporting such leniency. They relied on decisions from the Karnataka High Court (Union of India Vs. Asaid Paints Ltd., EID Parry (India) Ltd. Vs. Union of India), Madras High Court (Commissioner of GST and Central Excise Vs. Bharat Electronics Ltd.), and Calcutta High Court (M/s. RSD Natural Resources Pvt. Ltd. Vs. State of West Bengal And Ors., Nodal Officer, Jt. Commissioner, IT Grievance, GST Bhawan Vs. M/s. Das Auto Centre And Ors.). Revenue's contentions: The judgment records no specific arguments from the revenue or the Union of India.
Sections Cited
TRAN-I
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2022. Council Secretariat & Ors. Mr. Avra Mazumder, Mr. S. Dewanji, Mr. S. Biswas. ……..for the petitioner. Mr. Tapan Bhanja. ……..for the UOI. Mr. K. K. Maiti, Ms. Sanjukta Gupta. ……..for the CGST Authority. Heard learned advocates appearing for the parties. It is the case of the petitioner that in spite of repeated representations made before the authority concerned of CGST, mainly dated 10th July, 2018, 30th July, 2018 and 29th January, 2019 as appears at page 67, 69 and 96 of the writ petition respectively against its grievance of not allowing or permitting to file revised TRAN-I Form or its prayer to file upload GST TRAN-I since in the original TRAN-I which was filed within time there was some mistake due to inadvertence and by the time when rectified TRAN-I was filed the statutory time was expired. It appears on perusal that against the aforesaid representations it has been rejected by one line order, dated 10th April, 2019, as appears at page 97 of the writ
2 petition which is totally a non-speaking order and it does not deal with the contentions raised by the petitioner in th
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