M/S. Tropical Beverages PVT. LTD. vs. The Union Of INDIA And Ors
Held
The Court held that while the petitioner may have uploaded the appeal to the wrong portal, it was incumbent upon the authorities to inform the appellant of such an error. The Court noted that the appellant was unaware of uploading the appeal to the Central Portal instead of the State Portal. The respondents' reply confirmed that the appeal filed by the petitioner before the Central authorities had now been located. Consequently, the Court directed the petitioner to file a fresh appeal and upload it before the appropriate authority, i.e., the State Portal of the GST. The delay in filing the appeal was condoned. The Court also advised both Central and State Appellate authorities to inform assessees via email when appeals are filed before the wrong forum, acknowledging that these facilities are new and require time for correction. The orders under Annexure-6 and 7 were quashed to enable the petitioner to file a fresh appeal.
Facts
The petitioner, M/s. Tropical Beverages Pvt. Ltd., filed an appeal in Form GST APL-01 against an order dated 15.11.2019. The petitioner uploaded the appeal on the online portal of the Central GST (CGST) authority instead of the State GST (SGST) Appellate Authority's portal. The SGST Appellate Authority received a hard copy of the appeal on 21.11.2020 but refused to accept it, stating that no such appeal was found on their dashboard. The respondents' reply indicated that the appeal was located under the administrative office of the Central jurisdiction. The petitioner contended they were unaware of uploading the appeal to the wrong portal.
Key Issues
1. Whether the SGST Appellate Authority was justified in refusing to accept the hard copy of the appeal filed by the petitioner on 21.11.2020, given that the online appeal was uploaded on the CGST portal instead of the SGST portal? Petitioner's Argument: The petitioner argued that they had uploaded an appeal, albeit possibly on the wrong portal, and that the authorities should have informed them of the error. They claimed to be unaware of uploading the appeal to the Central Portal instead of the State Portal. Revenue's Argument: The respondents (Union of India and Others) argued that the appeal was not found on the State GST Appellate Authority's dashboard, and the hard copy was returned because the online appeal was accessible only by CGST authorities. They stated that the petitioner had misled the Court by claiming the appeal was uploaded to the State GST Appellate Authority's Back Office Portal.
Sections Cited
Form GST APL-01
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Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
ORDER
04/01/2022 (Indrajit Mahanty, C.J.)
Heard learned counsel for the respective parties.
In the present case, it appears that the petitioner had filed an appeal in FORM GST APL-01 under Annexure-6 to the present writ petition. The said appeal had to be uploaded on the appropriate portal (Back Office Portal of the State GST, Appellate Authority). In paragraph-6 of the reply filed by the respondents no. 2 to 5 the following has been stated:
“6. That, with regard to the statements made in paragraph No. 5.5 to 5.7 of the Writ Petition, i say that, on 03.12.2020 the GST Appellate Authority passed an order by stating that the petitioner filed hard copy of t
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