The Delhi High Court remitted matter to GST Commissioner to consider delay condonation and noted that the date of filing is always taken as date of initial filing through online mode.
The Petitioner impugned the order dated 15.01.2024 passed by the Commissioner of Central Tax Appeals-II whereby the appeal filed by the petitioner impugning the order in original dated 04.05.2023 was dismissed holding that the same is barred by limitation.
As per the impugned order, the order in original is dated 04.05.2023 and the last date for filing the appeal in terms of Section 107 (1) of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act 2017 being 3 months, was 03.08.2023. The impugned order records that the appeal was actually filed on 25.09.2023 after a delay of more than one month. As per the Commissioner Appeals only a delay upto one month, in filing an appeal, could be condoned under Section 107 (4) of the CGST Act if sufficient cause in shown.
A Division Bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Ravinder Dudeja observed that “The date of filing is always taken as the date of initial filing through the online mode if other steps as required in the law are also taken by the appellant. Since in the present case the appeal was filed on 02.09.2023, we hold that the appeal was filed with a delay not exceeding one month and as such the Commissioner Appeals was empowered to consider the application seeking condonation of delay.”
“As the Commissioner Appeals has erroneously not considered the application seeking condonation of delay solely on the ground that appeal same was beyond the period prescribed under Section 107 (4) of the Act and thus beyond the powers vested in the Commissioner Appeals, we set aside the said order and remit the matter to the Commissioner Appeals to consider the application seeking condonation of delay in accordance with law” the Court directed.
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