In the absence of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), the Orissa High Court bench of Justice Dr. B.R. Sarangi and Justice M S Raman ruled to stay the amount of penalty and interest claimed by the GST authorities.
The High Court entertained the appeal only because the Second Appellate Tribunal had not yet been constituted.
The appeal was preferred by the petitioner, as the same is in contravention to sub-sections (1) & (4) of Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act and has rejected the appeal filed under sub-Section (1) of Section 107 of the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
Section 107 allows the taxpayers to appeal to the Appellate Authority any decision or order made by an adjudicating authority, such as the GST officer, the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling, or the Revisional Authority. The appeal must be submitted within three months after the decision or order’s notification.
Kshirod Kumar Sahoo, the petitioner’s counsel, maintained that the petitioner is not obligated to pay the tax and penalty and, as such, against the order given by the first appellate authority, albeit a second appeal exists, the second appellate tribunal has yet to be formed.
It was also argued that the petitioner had previously submitted the requested tax amount with the authority, and that because there is no second appellate forum, this Court should hear this writ petition.
Conversely, Suni Mishra, the counsel of the respondent, vehemently contended that there is a delay in preferring the appeal and the court may not condone the delay beyond 4 months.
Furthermore, the appellate authority was not given discretion to absolve the delay beyond one month beyond three months from the date of notification of the order in question.
Furthermore, the petitioner is obligated to pay the tax because the proceeding is on a distinct footing. If the petitioner intends to seek redress by filing an appeal with the 2nd appellate tribunal, the petitioner must pay a 20% balance disputed tax in order for the 2nd appellate tribunal to examine its case. However, the bench decided not to proceed with the penalties and interest.
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