State Of Chhattisgarh vs. M/S Bharat Aluminium Commissioner LTD.

Held

The High Court held that the review petition had become infructuous and was disposed of accordingly. The Court noted that the petitioner's original grievance was the inability to submit GST returns online due to technical errors, which led to the writ petition being allowed with directions to reopen the portal or accept manual submissions. During the review proceedings, it was confirmed that the GST Council had since permitted the opening of the portal for return submission. The petitioner had availed this facility and submitted their returns online. Furthermore, the petitioner had also submitted a physical return prior to the portal reopening, which was being processed. The State's specific grievance was limited to the direction for manual submission, which was rendered redundant by the portal's reopening. Therefore, the entire issue had been redressed, making the review petition unnecessary.

Facts

The State of Chhattisgarh filed a review petition seeking to review an order dated February 22, 2018, passed in WPT No. 33 of 2018. The original writ petition was filed by M/s Bharat Aluminium Commissioner Ltd. (Petitioner No. 1) against the State and Union of India. The High Court had directed the respondents to reopen the GST portal within two weeks to allow the petitioner to submit its return. If the portal was not reopened, the respondents were to entertain the petitioner's application manually. The petitioner had claimed that they were unable to submit their GST return online due to technical errors. During the review proceedings, it was submitted that the GST Council had permitted the opening of the portal for submission of returns, and the petitioner had already submitted their return. The petitioner had also submitted a physical return prior to the portal reopening.

Key Issues

1. Whether the State's grievance regarding the direction for manual submission of returns, in the event the portal was not reopened, has become redundant in light of the GST Council permitting the reopening of the portal for submission of returns? (Question of law) Contentions: Petitioner (M/s Bharat Aluminium Commissioner Ltd.): Argued that the GST Council had permitted the opening of the portal for submission of returns, and they had availed this facility and submitted their return. They also submitted a physical return which was being processed by the Central Government. Revenue/State (State of Chhattisgarh): Submitted that they were aggrieved only by the second part of the original order, which allowed for manual submission of returns if the portal was not opened. They contended that in light of the GST Council granting permission to open the portal, this part of the order had become redundant as the petitioner's primary grievance of not being able to submit returns online was redressed.