Rsk Industries Private Limited vs. Union Of INDIA

Held

The Court held that the petitioner was indeed entitled to carry forward CENVAT/Input Tax Credit amounting to Rs. 14,55,770/- as per the provisions of the Act, 1944, and the Act, 2017. It was acknowledged that the petitioner had erroneously declared 'ZERO' balance for CENVAT Credit admissible as Input Tax Credit in Form GST TRAN-1. The Court found that the IT Grievance Redressal Committee failed to consider the petitioner's inability to upload a revised Form GST TRAN-1 due to technical glitches, which prevented them from correcting the mistake within the prescribed date of December 27, 2017. The Court further noted Order No. 01/2020-GST dated February 7, 2020, which extended the time for submitting Form GST TRAN-1 until March 31, 2020, for registered persons facing technical difficulties. Therefore, the Court directed the respondents to consider the petitioner's claim for carrying forward the Input Tax Credit of Rs. 14,55,770/-, enabling them to utilize the benefit of the aforementioned order by uploading the revised Form GST TRAN-1 on or before March 31, 2020. The respondents were to complete the verification of the claim within two weeks of receiving the order.

Facts

The petitioner, RSK Industries Private Limited, engaged in manufacturing and trading iron and steel, was registered under the Central Excise Act, 1944, and the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003. Upon the introduction of the CGST Act, 2017, the petitioner filed Form GST TRAN-1 to claim unutilised CENVAT credit and VAT input tax credit. However, due to an inadvertent error, the petitioner entered 'ZERO' in Column 5(a) for CENVAT credit admissible as Input Tax Credit, amounting to Rs. 8,58,373/- for excise duty and Rs. 5,97,397/- for service tax, totalling Rs. 14,55,770/-. The petitioner attempted to file a revised Form GST TRAN-1 before the deadline of December 27, 2017, but could not do so due to the absence of a revise button/link on the GST portal. Despite representations, including to the IT Grievance Redressal Committee, the petitioner's claim was rejected.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner is entitled to file a revised Form GST TRAN-1 to correct an inadvertent error in reporting CENVAT credit, considering the technical difficulties faced on the GST portal, under Section 140 of the CGST Act, 2017 read with Rule 117 of the CGST Rules, 2017? Petitioner's arguments: The petitioner contended that they were entitled to file a revised Form GST TRAN-1 by December 27, 2017, to rectify the mistake of entering 'ZERO' instead of the actual CENVAT/Input Tax Credit amount. They argued that they were prevented from doing so due to technical glitches on the GST portal, as communicated to the help desk on December 16, 2017. They also relied on Order No. 01/2020-GST dated February 7, 2020, which reopened the portal for uploading Form GST TRAN-1 until March 31, 2020, for cases with technical difficulties. Respondents' arguments: The respondents argued that once the original Form GST TRAN-1 was submitted, it could not be revised. They further contended that the petitioner was not eligible to carry forward the CENVAT/Input Tax Credit as they had declared 'ZERO' in the relevant column. The rejection of the petitioner's application by the IT Grievance Redressal Committee, which found no technical error in the initial filing, was also cited.