Sainik Mining And Allied Services LTD. vs. Union Of INDIA

Held

The Court held that a comprehensive procedure has been prescribed for the redressal of grievances concerning the non-uploading of FORM TRAN-1 due to technical glitches, as detailed in the circular dated April 3, 2018. The Court noted that this circular, particularly paragraph 8, provides a mechanism for taxpayers who encountered IT-related glitches and could not complete the TRAN-1 filing by the stipulated date. The Court found that this circular and the appointment of Nodal Officers by the State Government were sufficient to address the petitioner's grievance. Therefore, the Court directed the petitioner to approach the Nodal Officer of Korba, Assistant Commissioner, State GST, Korba Circle-1, within four days with their representation and necessary documents. The Nodal Officer was instructed to consider and dispose of the representation following the procedure laid down in para 8 of the circular dated April 3, 2018, taking into account that the writ petition had been pending since April 11, 2018. The Court did not expressly leave any issue undecided.

Facts

The petitioner, Sainik Mining & Allied Services Ltd., a company registered under the Chhattisgarh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, sought to claim input tax credit (ITC) of ₹1,16,90,475/-. They were required to submit FORM GST TRAN-1 electronically under Rule 117 of the Chhattisgarh Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, for transitional provisions. The petitioner claims to have punched in the required data before the extended deadline of December 27, 2017. However, upon attempting to submit the form, an error message appeared, preventing its final upload. Despite complaining to the authorities, the issue remained unresolved, leading the petitioner to file a writ petition seeking manual acceptance of their application, reopening of the portal, and grant of ITC.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner is entitled to claim input tax credit (ITC) benefit under Rule 117 of the Chhattisgarh Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, despite being unable to upload FORM GST TRAN-1 due to technical glitches? 2. Whether the existing mechanism for grievance redressal for technical issues on the GST portal is adequate to address the petitioner's grievance? The petitioner argued that they had completed the data entry for FORM TRAN-1 well before the deadline and that the failure to upload was solely due to technical errors on the GST portal. They contended that they should not be deprived of the ITC benefit they are otherwise entitled to. The respondents, including the Union of India and the State of Chhattisgarh, submitted that an IT grievance redressal mechanism had been established, including the appointment of Nodal Officers, to address such technical issues. They relied on a circular dated April 3, 2018, which outlined a procedure for resolving stuck TRAN-1 filings.