The Bombay High Court directed the GST Authority to process the application for IGST refund and pass a reasoned order as no order was passed.
The petitioner, Evertime Overseas Private Limited claimed that he is entitled to refund under the provisions of section 16 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. In respect of the goods that have been supplied, the petitioner is entitled to claim the refund under sub-section 3(b) of section 16 of the IGST Act. It is submitted that the claim for refund is not being processed by respondent on the ground that the investigation is pending against the petitioner.
Advocate Prithwiraj Choudhuri, the counsel for the petitioner contended that in the teeth of the provisions of sub-section 10 of section 54 of the CGST Act, the action on the part of the respondents refusing to process the refund on the ground that the investigation is pending is untenable. Our attention is invited to one such application made on May 18, 2021 which is at page 92 of the petition seeking release of the outstanding amount of drawback and IGST refund.
On the other hand, Mr. Ashutosh Misra for respondent submitted that the department is justified in not processing the application on the count of a pending investigation to secure the interest of the revenue.
The division bench headed by the Chief Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice M.S.Karnik held that there is no order or decision on record on the application claiming refund. In this view of the matter, it would be appropriate to direct the respondent to process the application made by the petitioner for refund and pass a reasoned order upon hearing the petitioner. The claim for refund be decided as expeditiously as possible on its own merits and preferably within a period of eight weeks from today. The petitioner to appear before the Competent Authority on October 21, 2021 at 11.00 a.m.
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