The Allahabad High Court recently affirmed that the provisions under the Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime does not require a Petitioner aggrieved by an order of an adjudicatory body to first approach the appellate authority before seeking to invoke the revisionary provisions under the Act.
In a Writ Tax case filed before the Allahabad High Court, the Petitioner M/s Buddha Resorts Private Limited (Buddha Resorts) moved against the Chief Commissioner Of Goods And Services Tax (Gst) Lko. Zone And Another challenging the revisional order passed by the Revisional Authority under Section 108 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (UPGST Act).
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The key contention raised by Buddha Resorts was that their application for Revision was first dismissed on merits and then held to be not maintainable in terms of Section 108 of the GST Act, 2017.
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Appearing through Onkar Pandey and Arjun Gupta, the Petitioner contended that even though the remedy of appeal against an Order passed under Section 73 was available to the Petitioner, so does the remedy of an appeal under Section 108.
The Petitioner further stated that if the impugned order was to be deemed as an order on merits, then the same would be deemed to be a cryptic order passed without due and proper application of mind to the facts and grounds raised in the revision.
Rajesh Tiwari, learned Additional Chief, Standing Counsel for the State, maintained their stand that the Revision against the impugned order was not maintainable.
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The Division Bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manish Kumar observed that if the Revisional Authority was of the clear view that a revision of the impugned order would not be maintainable, then the Revisional Authority should have abstained from discussing whether the parameters and prerequisites for exercise of revisional powers under Section 108 were existing or not – deeming the Order by the Revisional Authority to be unclear.
Observing Section 108(2) of the GST Act, 2017, the Bench held that the Section 108 restricts the Revisional Authority from exercising any revisional power when the matter has been appealed before the higher authority and that in no way does the provision mandate that an appeal has to be preferred before seeking to invoke the revisionary powers of the revisional authority.
Consequently, the Allahabad High Court proceeded to restore the matter before the Revisional Authority for fresh adjudication in terms of the present decision.
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