M/S Skys Automobil Through Proprietor Shaikh Imran Shakeel vs. The Union Of INDIA And Others

Held

The Court held that the petitioner was not entitled to any of the reliefs claimed. The reasoning was based on the Notification dated September 10, 2018, which amended Rule 117 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. Specifically, the Court noted that sub-rule (1A) allowed the Commissioner to extend the date for submitting the declaration in FORM GST TRAN-1 for registered persons who could not submit it by the due date due to technical difficulties on the common portal, provided the Council made a recommendation. Crucially, the amendment also stipulated that registered persons filing TRAN-1 in accordance with sub-rule (1A) could submit the statement in FORM GST TRAN-2 by April 30, 2019. The petitioner's counsel did not dispute this position. Therefore, the Court found no cause of action to file the petition, deeming it meritless. The operative direction was to dismiss the petition.

Facts

The petitioner, M/s. SKYS Automobil, sought directions from the High Court to reopen the GST portal for filing Form GST TRAN-1. The petitioner claimed that they could not upload their Form GST TRAN-1 by the due date of December 27, 2017, due to technical glitches on the GSTN portal. This failure prevented them from claiming transitional CENVAT credit, resulting in a financial loss of Rs. 9,28,526/-, which they sought to claim as input tax credit and subsequent credit. The petitioner had made several attempts to resolve the issue with the respondents. The respondents are Union of India, Joint Commissioner (State GST), Commissioner (SGST), and Goods and Service Tax Network.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner is entitled to a direction to reopen the GST portal for submission of Form GST TRAN-1, considering the alleged technical glitches encountered by the petitioner, and to allow them to claim transitional input tax credit and subsequent credit of Rs. 9,28,526/-? 2. Whether the petitioner is entitled to a direction to manually file Form GST TRAN-1 if the portal is not reopened, to claim the aforementioned credit? 3. Whether the petitioner is entitled to a refund of the balance CENVAT credit of Rs. 9,28,526/- due to their inability to claim it as input tax credit because of technical issues? Petitioner's Arguments: The petitioner argued that they were unable to file Form GST TRAN-1 by the due date due to technical glitches on the GSTN portal. They relied on the initial extension of the deadline to December 27, 2017, and referred to clauses 5 and 8 of a circular issued by the Ministry of Finance. They also highlighted Notification dated September 10, 2018, which introduced sub-rule (1A) to Rule 117 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, allowing extensions for those facing technical difficulties. Respondents' Arguments: The respondents, referring to the same Notification dated September 10, 2018, particularly clause (2) which amended Rule 117, argued that registered persons filing TRAN-1 under sub-rule (1A) could submit Form GST TRAN-2 by April 30, 2019. They contended that based on this provision, the petitioner was not entitled to the reliefs sought.