Bombay High Court (HC) presided by Justices Abhay Ahuja and Nitin Jamdar directed both GST and Customs department to coordinate and decide about the correct authority to decide the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) refund.
M/s Bora Mobility, the petitioner business, exports. It made an application for a GST refund by presenting the shipping bill. Customs did not handle the refund claim. Further contacted the GST officials. No action was taken on the claim.
The petition was pending for a year on a simple issue as to who is the Proper Authority to decide the Petitioner’s IGST refund claim.
The customs authorities asserted that the GST authority is the appropriate officer for handling refund claims, however the GST authorities contend that it is the customs officers. This was observed by the court.
The bench observed that both the departments pointed to each other for the refund process. Further the court disapproved of such stands taken by the officers of the Government leading to needless waste of judicial time and harassment to the citizens.
The division bench directed the respondents (Customs and GST department) to coordinate with each other, decide about forum and inform the Court on the next date through a joint note as to who is the correct authority to decide the Petitioner’s claim.
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