M/S Janki Pesticides vs. Union Of INDIA
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The petitioner, M/s Janki Pesticides, through its proprietor Nikhil Jaggi, filed a writ petition before the High Court of Chhattisgarh seeking a direction to the respondent authorities to re-open the GST portal for uploading, revising, or modifying the GST TRAN-1 form. The petitioner's grievance stemmed from an inability to file the TRAN-1 form due to alleged technical glitches on the GST portal. The respondents included various authorities from the Union of India and the State of Chhattisgarh, such as the Ministry of Finance, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, and the Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners of Central and State Tax. The petition was filed in 2018.
Held
The Court held that a complete procedure has been prescribed for the redressal of grievances, particularly concerning the non-uploading of FORM TRAN-1 due to technical glitches, as outlined in the circular dated April 3, 2018. This circular established an IT Grievance Redressal Committee and detailed the process for resolving stuck TRAN-1 filings. Paragraph 8 of the circular specifically addresses the resolution of such issues, allowing identified taxpayers who faced IT-related glitches to complete their TRAN-1 filing by April 30, 2018, without allowing amendments to the credit amount. The Court noted that Nodal Officers had already been appointed by the State Government. Therefore, the Court directed the petitioner to approach the Nodal Officer of Raipur within seven days, submitting a representation with necessary documents. The Nodal Officer was instructed to consider and dispose of the representation by following the procedure laid down in para 8 of the circular dated April 3, 2018. The Court did not expressly leave any issue undecided.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner is entitled to a direction for the re-opening of the GST portal to upload/revise/modify the GST TRAN-1 form due to alleged technical glitches, under the Central GST Rules, 2017? The petitioner argued that they were unable to complete the filing of TRAN-1 due to technical issues on the GST portal. They sought the court's intervention to allow them to rectify this situation. The respondents, specifically the Central Tax authorities, did not record any specific arguments against the petitioner's plea. However, the court considered a circular issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, dated April 3, 2018, which provided a mechanism for addressing grievances arising from technical glitches on the GST portal, including the resolution of stuck TRAN-1 filings.
Sections Cited
Rule 86A
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
1 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR Writ Petition (T) No. 107 of 2018 M/s Janki Pesticides, Shop No. 14, First Floor, Durga College Comples, Maudha Para Raipur (C.G.), Through Proprietor Nikhil Jaggi S/o Shri Triath Ram Jaggi, aged about 45 years, R/o D. 141 Sector 5, Devendra Nagar, Raipur (C.G.) ---- Petitioner Versus
Union of India, through the Joint Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Room No. 46, North Block, New Delhi – 110001. 2. Goods and Service Tax Council, through the Additional Secretary, GST Council Secretariat 5th Floor, Tower II, Jeevan Bharti Building, Janpath Road, Connaught Place, New Delhi
The Central Board of Excise and Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, North Block, New Delhi, 110001. 4. Commissioner of Central Tax, Goods and Services Tax, Central GST Bhawan, Dhamtari Road, Tikrapara, Raipur – 49001, C.G.
Assistant Commissioner, Central Tax, Goods and and Services Tax, Central GST Bhawan, Dhamtari Road, Tikrapara, Raipur – 49001, C.G.
Commissioner, State Tax, Goods and Services Tax, Raipur, Civil Lines, Near Raj Bhawan, Raipur – 492001, Chhattisgarh.
Assistant Commissioner, State Tax, Goods and Services Tax, Raipur, Nagar Nigam, Raipur – 495678, Chhattisgarh. ---- Respondents For Petitioner : Mr. Keshav Dewangan, Advocate. For Respondent No.3,4,5 : Mr. Maneesh Sharma, Advocate. None for other respondents. Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal Order On Board 18/06/2018
2
By way of this petition, the petitioner is seeking direction to the respondents authorities to re-open the GST portal for uploading/revising/modifying the GST TRAN-1 under the Central GST Rules, 2017. 2. I have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties.
On 3rd of April, 2018 a circular has been issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, New Delhi, for redressal of grievances of tax payers due to technical glitches on GST portal on which an IT Grievance Redresssal Committee has been constituted. Procedure for resolving the resolution of stuck TRAN – 1 has bee recorded and the manner has been indicated in paras 5 and 8 of the said circular. Para 5 relates to appointment of Nodal Officer and para 8 relates to resolution of stuck TRAN-1s and filing of GSTR-3B. Para 8 of the circular reads as follows: - “8. Resolution of stuck TRAN-1s and filing of GSTR-3B
1 A large number of taxpayers could not complete the process of TRAN-1 filing either at the stage of original or revised filing as they could not digitally authenticate the TRAN-1s due to IT related glitches. As a result, a large number of such TRAN-1s are stuck in the system. GSTN shall identify such taxpayers who could not file TRAN-1 on the basis of electronic audit trial. It has been decided that all such taxpayers, who tried but were not able to complete TRAN-1 procedure (original or revised) of filing them on or before 27.12.2017 due to IT-glitch, shall be provided the facility to complete TRAN-1 filing. It is clarified that the last date for filing of TRAN 1 is not being extended in general
3 and only these identified taxpayers shall be allowed to complete the process of filing TRAN-1. 8.2 The taxpayer shall not be allowed to amend the amount of credit in TRAN-1 during this process vis-a-vis the amount of credit which was recorded by the taxpayer in the TRAN-1, which could not be filed. If needed, GSTN may request field formations of Centre and State to collect additional document/data etc. or verify the same to identify taxpayers who should be allowed this procedure.
3 GSTN shall communicate directly with the taxpayers in this regard and submit a final report to GIC about the number of TRAN-1s filed and submitted through this process.
4 The taxpayers shall complete the process of filing of TRAN 1 stuck due to IT glitches, as discussed above, by 30th April 2018 and the process of completing filing of GSTR 3B which could not be filed for such TRAN 1 shall be completed by 31st May 2018.”
After going through the aforesaid circular and the scheme of the circular, I am convinced that complete procedure has been prescribed for redressal of grievance which the petitioner has raised in this writ petition, particularly of non-uploading of FORM TRAN – 1 due to technical glitches. Apart from this, the State Government – Commissioner, Central Excise / GST has issued order dated 5-4-2018 in which Nodal Officers have already been appointed by the State Government. In view of the above, the petitioner is directed to 4 approach the Nodal Officer of Raipur within seven days from today by filing representation along with all necessary documents for redressal of his grievance and in turn, the said authority would consider and dispose of the same following the procedure laid down in para 8 of the circular dated 3-4-2018. 5. With the aforesaid direction, the writ petition stands finally disposed of. No order as to cost(s).
Certified copy as per rules. (Sanjay K. Agrawal) Judge D/-
Reproduced from the public record of the Chhattisgarh High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.