The Delhi High Court directed the GST Department to consider input tax credit ( ITC ) refund based on the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs ( CBIC ) Circular extending benefit of the exclusion period.
Petitioner impugned the order, passed by Respondent No. 2, rejecting the application filed by the petitioner seeking refund of accumulated input tax credit ( ITC ). The petitioner had filed the subject application, seeking refund of the ITC relating to tax periods July 2020 to December 2020.
It is relevant to note that after the impugned order was passed, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs issued a Notification dated 05.07.2022 in line with the orders passed by the Supreme Court in Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation. In terms of the said circular, the Board directed that the period from 01.03.2020 to 28.02.2022 is excluded for purposes of computing the period of limitation, inter-alia, for applications filed under Section 54 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
The appeal filed by the petitioner impugning the order was dismissed on the ground of limitation along with four other similar appeals. The petitioner had approached the Delhi High Court in respect of the said four appeals.
A Division Bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Ravinder Dudeja observed that “Considering the peculiar circumstances of this case, where the benefit of exclusion of the period from 01.03.2020 to 28.02.2022 has been made available subsequent to the impugned order rejecting the application for refund, this Court considers it apposite to allow the present petition and remand the matter to Respondent No. 3 to consider the petitioner’s application afresh in the light of the circular dated 05.07.2022.”
“Respondent No. 3 shall process the application of the petitioner for refund as expeditiously as possible and, in any event, within a period of eight weeks from today” the Court directed.
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