A division bench of the Rajasthan High Court, today granted interim relief to the Rajasthan Tax payers in a writ petition filed by the Rajasthan Tax Consultants Association due to the problems faced by the taxpayers on account of the technical glitches at the GSTN portal.
The petitioners, Rajasthan Tax Consultants Association had approached the High Court pointing out the technical and various other mistakes committed by the Central Government while implementing the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) laws.
In the petition, the petitioners impugned the legality of the cut off/ time limits prescribed in the Notifications issued by the Government by claiming that they are irrational, unrealistic and overlook the ground realities and various technical glitches/short comings persisting on GSTN portal.
Before the High Court, Advocate Mr.Sanjay Jhanwar, counsel for the petitioners highlighted the unpreparedness and the clinical trials on taxpayers by the Government and the GSTN.
On behalf of the respondents, it was argued that GSTN portal is at a nasant stage and all issues would be resolved in the due course of time, though they admitted the glitches.
The bench comprising Justice Jhaveri and Justice Vyas, after hearing the matter has granted the following interim reliefs on 20.09.2017.
a) No late fees or penalty in case of late filing of FORM 3B for the month of August after 20.09.2017, if the delay is due to the technical glitches
b) composition scheme to be available w.e.f. 01.07.2017 for all the registered persons who could not opt for the composition scheme within the prescribed time frame due to unavailability of FORM at portal upon sending of an email by 30.09.2017 to the concerned officer.
c) Speedy redressal of any other problems faced due to the portal glitches.
Moreover, the central and the state departments have been directed to provide separate district wise email addresses for remedy of issues and opting for composition scheme.
The court further directed that a registered person can send emails to the respective district email ids in case of any technical errors in the GSTN portal and the department is bound to redress the same at the earliest. These benefits would however be available only in the state of Rajasthan. The matter is listed for further hearing on 05.10.2017.
Read the full text of the Order below.
