M/S Jyoti Brick Field vs. State Of Uttar Pradesh And Another

Held

The Court disposed of the writ petition with a direction that if the petitioner avails the statutory remedy of appeal within a period of two weeks from the date of the order, the said appeal may be entertained on its own merits without any objection as to limitation. This decision was based on a concession made by the State, similar to the one in the case of M/s Maa Gayatri Enterprises. The Court reasoned that in view of the similar concession and circumstances, no further adjudication on the merits of the case was required. The operative direction is to allow the petitioner to file the appeal within two weeks, and for the appellate authority to consider it on merits, disregarding the limitation period. Any amount deposited against the disputed demand may be adjusted against the requirement for pre-deposit of 10% of the disputed demand.

Facts

The petitioner, M/s Jyoti Brick Field, filed a writ petition challenging an ex parte adjudication order dated 29.04.2024, passed by respondent no. 2 under Section 73 of the UP GST Act, 2017, for the financial year 2018-19. The revenue raised a preliminary objection regarding the availability of a statutory remedy of appeal. The petitioner contended that due to a lack of knowledge of the order, they could not file an appeal within the prescribed limitation period, and the maximum delay condonation period had expired. The Court noted a similar case, M/s Maa Gayatri Enterprises Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr., where the High Court disposed of a writ petition by allowing the filing of statutory appeals within two weeks, based on a concession from the State.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner is entitled to avail the statutory remedy of appeal despite the expiry of the limitation period, given the circumstances of lack of knowledge of the ex parte adjudication order? 2. Whether the Court should entertain the writ petition when an alternative statutory remedy of appeal is available? The petitioner argued that they were prevented from filing an appeal within the limitation period due to a lack of knowledge of the ex parte adjudication order and that the maximum delay condonation period had expired, rendering them unable to avail the statutory remedy. The revenue contended that a statutory remedy of appeal was available to the petitioner, and therefore, the writ petition was not maintainable. The petitioner relied on the concession made by the State in a similar case, M/s Maa Gayatri Enterprises Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr., to support their claim for condonation of delay and entertainment of appeal.