The Andhra Pradesh High Court directed the GST Department either to allow the GST TRAN- 1 Form electronically or manually.
The petitioner is a dealer of Hyundai cars and ancillary services, registered with GST vide registration.
In order to avoid double taxation on the duty paid goods, the Government has brought the transitional provisions of CGST Act, 2017, namely, Section 140(3) of CGST Act, 2017 read with Rule 117 of CGST Rules, which allows a person, who was not liable for registration under the erstwhile law or, who was engaged in the manufacture of exempted goods or provisions of exempted goods or a first stage dealer or second stage dealer or a depot of manufacturer to claim credit of eligible duties in respect of inputs held in stock and inputs contained in semi-finished or finished goods held in stock.
The averments in the affidavit show that the petitioner, being a first stage dealer, had a closing stock of vehicles and spare parts purchased from the manufacturers on payment of eligible duties to an eligible credit of nearly Rs.79,77,785/-.
The Form TRAN-1 is prescribed for availing credit on transfer to GST account under Rule 117, which shall be availed within 90 days from the appointed day.
However, the Government of India has been extending the time limit for filing form TRAN-1 from time to time. It is said that the petitioner attempted to file TRAN-1 on December 24, 2017, but as the portal was frozen or jammed, he could not upload the TRAN-1.
The petitioner did make efforts to get Form TRAN-1 uploaded or in the alternative to accept the application manually and do the needful, however, it was not addressed by the GST department.
The Division Judge Bench of Justice C. Praveen Kumar and Justice B. Krishna Mohan held that the petitioner could not upload the TRAN-1 form electronically due to technical snags and since the Government of India has been extending the time regularly for submitting TRAN-1 forms, it is a fit case where the request of the petitioner can be considered.
The court directed the respondents herein either to open the portal to enable the petitioner to again file GST TRAN-1 form electronically or in the alternative accept the GST TRAN-1 form manually on or before September 30, 2020.
“Once it is uploaded or submitted manually, the claim of the petitioner may be processed in accordance with law,” the court said.
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