Facts of the Case

The petitioner, M/s Pramod Kumar Mehta, a sole proprietorship firm registered at Katihar, Bihar, through its proprietor Mr. Pramod Kumar Mehta, challenged an appellate order that rejected his GST appeal solely on the ground of a five-day delay in filing. The underlying order of the proper officer had been passed on 27.04.2023. Under Section 107(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, an appeal must be filed within three months, extendable by a further one month on sufficient cause, beyond which neither the Appellate Authority nor a Constitutional Court has power to condone delay. During the pendency of this writ petition, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs issued Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax dated 02.11.2023, granting a special one-time window for filing delayed appeals against orders passed on or before 31.03.2023, subject to pre-deposit conditions.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether a Constitutional Court under Article 226 can condone delay in filing a GST appeal beyond the period prescribed in Section 107(4) of the BGST Act.
  2. Whether the petitioner, whose underlying order was dated 27.04.2023, could avail the benefit of CBIC Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax, which in terms applies only to orders passed on or before 31.03.2023.
  3. Whether the cut-off date fixed in the notification bore any rational nexus to its stated object, given that the notification was itself issued only on 02.11.2023.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • Contended that rejection of the appeal for a mere five-day delay was disproportionate and ought to be reconsidered in light of CBIC's subsequently issued amnesty Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax.
  • Urged that though the underlying order pre-dated the notification's 31.03.2023 cut-off by under a month, he ought to be treated on par with taxpayers whose orders fell within the notified window, since the notification itself was issued only in November 2023.
  • Expressed readiness to comply with the pre-deposit and other conditions prescribed under the notification if permitted to avail its benefit.

Respondent's Arguments

  • Counsel for the Union of India and the State appeared and were heard, but the order does not record any submission resisting the petitioner's request beyond the plain fact, also noted by the Court itself, that the assessment order of 27.04.2023 fell outside the notification's cut-off date of 31.03.2023.
  • The revenue's implicit position rested on the statutory bar in Section 107(4) of the BGST Act against condonation of delay beyond the extended one-month period.

Court Order/Findings

  • The Court held that neither the Appellate Authority nor a Constitutional Court under Article 226 has power to condone delay in filing a GST appeal beyond the period fixed in Section 107(4) of the BGST Act.
  • Examining Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax, the Court found that, on a literal reading, the petitioner's case (order dated 27.04.2023) fell just outside the notified cut-off of 31.03.2023.
  • The Court found no rationale for the 31.03.2023 cut-off, observing that since the notification itself was issued only on 02.11.2023, orders passed even within three months prior to that date ought to have been considered for the same beneficial treatment.
  • The writ petition was allowed, permitting the petitioner to comply with the conditions of Notification No.53/2023, upon which the rejection order would stand set aside and the appeal would be freshly considered; failing compliance, the impugned order would operate.

Important Clarification

  • Courts have no inherent power to condone delay in GST appeals beyond the statutory limit under Section 107(4); relief for delayed appeals must come through a specific amnesty notification, not judicial discretion.
  • Where a beneficial notification's cut-off date lacks a rational nexus to its object, a High Court may extend its benefit to similarly placed taxpayers just outside the literal cut-off rather than mechanically denying relief.
  • Taxpayers whose delayed appeals were rejected on limitation, even for orders passed shortly before a notified cut-off date, may have grounds to seek similar extension by approaching the jurisdictional High Court.

Sections Involved

  • Section 107(4), Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — prescribes the three-month limitation for filing a first appeal, extendable by one further month on sufficient cause.
  • Section 148, Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — empowers the Government to notify special procedures for a class of registered persons, the source of power for Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax.
  • CBIC Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax dated 02.11.2023 — created a one-time window till 31.01.2024 for filing delayed appeals against orders passed under Sections 73 or 74 on or before 31.03.2023, subject to pre-deposit conditions.

Decision – In Favour of

The writ petition was allowed in favour of the Assessee, though the relief is conditional — the petitioner must comply with the pre-deposit and procedural conditions of Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax for the rejection order to stand set aside and the appeal to be freshly heard; non-compliance will revive the original rejection.

Related Case Laws

No directly on-point case notes are currently published on this site.

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Judicature at Patna
  • Case No.: Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.17214 of 2023
  • CNR: Not available on record
  • Coram: Hon'ble the Chief Justice (K. Vinod Chandran, CJ) and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Rajiv Roy
  • Decision Date: 07.12.2023
  • Disposal Nature: Allowed; petitioner permitted to avail benefit of CBIC Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax for filing delayed GST appeal

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