The Gujarat High Court has dismissed a review petition filed by the revenue department against a judgment wherein an applicant was allowed to file the declaration in the form GST TRAN-1 and GST TRAN-2 to claim Transitional Credits.
The writ-applicant in the original petition was a partnership firm having its registered office at Bharuch, State of Gujarat who was in the business of import-export and distributor of branded housewares. Their case was that the declaration in the form GST TRAN-1 could not be filed on account of the technical glitches in terms of poor network connectivity and other technical difficulties on the common portal. The Court directed the revenue to permit the writ applicants to allow the filing of declaration in form GST TRAN-1 and GST TRAN-2 so as to enable the petitioners to claim transitional credits of the eligible duties in respect of the inputs held in stock on the appointed day in terms of Section 140(3) of the Act. It was further declared that the due date contemplated under Rule 117 of the CGST Rules for the purposes of claiming transitional credits is procedural in nature and thus should not be construed as a mandatory provision.
While dismissing the review petition, a division bench comprising of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice A.C. Rao of the Gujarat High Court has analyzed that, the jurisprudence on binding precedent and per incuriam. The High Court had in its earlier judgment had allowed the transitional credits on the ground that it is a vested, substantive and constitutional right and it is a property under Article 300A and not allowing carry forward of credit will be violation of Article 14 and Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India. This judgment has been followed by several High Courts including Hon’ble Calcutta High Court.
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