Appellate Authority Erred in Rejecting Appeal on Ground That It Had No Power to Condone Delay Beyond 4 Months | HC

Case Details: Arvind Gupta v. Assistant Commissioner of Revenue State Taxes - [2024] 158 taxmann.com 551 (Calcutta)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, J.
  • Boudhayan Bhattacharyya, Ms Stuti Bansal & Ms Rinki Saha for the Petitioner.
  • Pretom Das, Dilip Kumar Agarwal, Ratan Banik & Biswaraj Agarwal for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioner was a registered assessee and it filed appeal against the order of adjudicating authority. The Appellate Authority rejected the appeal on ground of delay and held that there is no scope under the provisions of GST Act for condoning delay in submitting the appeal beyond four months.

It filed writ petition against the rejection of appeal and contended that the Appellate Authority has power to condone delay in filing an appeal beyond limitation specified in Section 107.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that in the instant case, the petitioner was suffering from carcinoma maxilla and it went to Apollo Hospital, Delhi for his treatment. It was also submitted the prescriptions in support of the medical treatment of the petitioner. The Court further noted that Section 107 of CGST Act, 2017 does not exclude applicability of Limitation Act, 1963 and Section 5 of Limitation Act, 1963, providing for condonation of delay, stands attracted.

Therefore, the Court held that the impugned order passed by Appellate Authority that there is no scope to condone delay beyond four months would be liable to be set aside and the instant delay in presenting appeal was liable to be condoned. The Court also directed the Appellate Authority to restore appeal and consider the same on merit.