Madras HC Condones Delay of 2 days in Manual Filing of Appeal after Online Submission on GST Portal [Read Order]

A Single Bench of the Madras High Court condoned the delay of 2 days in manual filing of appeal after online submission on the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Portal.

The petitioner, Shri Isha Scraps, challenged an order of cancellation of registration, passed in terms of the applicable provisions of the Tamil Nadu Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The counsel for the petitioner only prayed that the petitioner may be permitted to file a statutory appeal.

The reason for approaching this Court is that the petitioner has instituted a statutory appeal before the first appellate authority on 09.05.2023, albeit with a delay of 2 days. This delay has been suitably explained in the affidavit to state that the petitioner was unaware of the technicalities of procedures to be followed and hence had missed the uploading of the order in the GST portal.

The Counsel for the petitioner also stated that there was no communication either by email or text to draw attention to the order uploaded in the portal and hence it missed the same. It was only after a delay of 2 days when the order was noticed and necessary steps taken immediately.

The appeal has been filed online by the petitioner on the GST portal. The applicable provision requires the petitioner to file a manual copy of the appeal within 7 days of e-filing. Thus, when the appeal was presented before the office of the appellate authority during the 2^nd week of May, 2023, the appellate authority noted that the same had been filed with a delay of 2 days and hence the same was not received for issue of necessary form in GST APL02.

A Court of Dr Justice Anita Sumanth noted that “In light of the above, the delay of 2 days in filing the appeal is condoned and the challenge to the order of assessment is rejected. The petitioner is permitted to re-present the appeal papers within a period of one (1) week from today and if so re-presented, R2 shall receive the appeal without reference to limitation but ensuring compliance with all other statutory conditions, including pre-deposit.”

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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