Voluntary Deposit Made Under Protest During Adjudication to be Treated as Part of Pre-deposit for Filing Appeal | HC

Case Details: Vinod Metal v. State of Maharashtra - [2023] 153 taxmann.com 322 (Bombay)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Jitendra Jain & G.S. Kulkarni, JJ.
  • Rahul Thakar & C.B. Thakar for the Petitioner.
  • Smt. Jyoti Chavan, Dushant Kumar, Manish Upadhye, Himanshu Takke, AGP’s & Karan Adhik for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

In the present case, the petitioner approached High Court alleging that GSTN Portal prevented it from lodging/filing of a statutory appeal under Section 107 of CGST Act without fulfilment of pre-deposit at the time of appeal. The petitioner contended that for the purpose of the pre-deposit, the amount voluntarily deposited under protest to be accepted towards fulfilment of such pre-deposit. However, the department contended that such deposit was not available for compliance of sub-section (6) of Section 107 of the CGST Act.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that an amount deposited under sub-section (5) section 73 of CGST Act is not an amount, which is deposited in pursuance of any demand or any assessment order. It would be certainly a voluntary deposit and such deposit would be accounted in event of any liability of assessee to pay tax, and would be integral to assessment. Therefore, the Court held that such deposit cannot be excluded from consideration for purpose of compliance of pre-deposit as mandated by sub-section (6) of Section 107.

List of Cases Reviewed

• • VVF (India) Ltd. v. State of Maharashtra (2023) 4 Centax 421/2023 (72) G.S.T.L. 444 (SC) (para 10) followed.

List of Cases Referred to

• • VVF (India) Ltd. v. State of Maharashtra [2023] 4 Centax 421/2023 (72) G.S.T.L. 444 (SC) [Para 3]
  • A.V. Fernandez v. State of Kerala AIR 1957 SC 657 (para 10)