Competent Authority to deposit amount of refund directly in bank account of assessee: HC

Case Details: Hardik Textiles v. State of Gujarat - [2022] 136 taxmann.com 397 (Gujarat)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Ms. Sonia Gokani and Ms. Nisha M. Thakore, JJ.
  • Avinash Poddar for the Petitioner. 
  • Trupesh Kathiriya, Asstt Govt. Pleader and Priyank Lodha for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioner was engaged in the business of manufacturing. It appointed a GST consultant Chartered Accountant who filed the GST refund application in Form GST RFD-01. The Competent Authority issued the payment order in RFD-05 but amount was not credited in the petitioner’s account. This was when brought to the notice of the consultant, he had checked the details from the online portal and realized that mistakenly he had given the bank account details of another client. Thereafter, the request made for finding out the solution and providing the guidance had not been responded to and it filed petition before the High Court.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court observed that due to the mistake of the consultant engaged by the petitioner, the amount has been deposited in the wrong account. However, the amount which had gone to the wrong account had been refunded by way of DRC-03 under section 73(5) by way of voluntary payment. Since, it was not a fault of petitioner, it should not be deprived of amount of refund and the refund amount should be credited in bank account of petitioner. Thus, the Competent Authority was directed to deposit amount of refund directly in bank account of petitioner.