In a major relief to Nayara Energy, the Gujarat High Court directed the GST Authority to disburse the GST Refund of Rs. 50.88 Crores along with Interest as technical glitch cannot be reason for non-payment.
The division bench of Justice Sonia Gokani and Justice Hemant M. Prachchhak noted that there is no adjudication which is necessary as the respondent – authority agrees to credit the amount of Rs.50,88,42,582/- in account of the petitioner and sum of Rs.39,05,121/- in the account of the Consumer Welfare Fund by issuance of payment advice RFD-05. The technical glitch of there being no such module available in the software created for this purpose is the reason for non- payment.
The Court notices that the refund order has been passed on 05.08.2021. The circular No.125/44/2019-GST dated 18.11.2019 specifies that the tax order of refund if not refunded within 60 days, the interest at the rate of 6% on the refund amount starting from the date immediately after expiry of 60 days from the date of receipt of the application till the date of refund is to be paid. It is in consonance with Section 56 of the CGST Act.
“Considering the fact that this non-attendance of the issue has resulted into not only the non-payment of the refund amount which is otherwise not being disputed by the respondents, but has caused hardship for the petitioner and many others who for no fault of theirs are suffering. Payment of interest on late payment can never furnish the reason to delay payment, the four weeks time is granted to resolve the issue, if need be felt for outsourcing by the authority concerned for taking assistance of experts on the part of the software engineers, let that also be taken for attending to this issue,” the court said.
The court ordered that the authority concerned may also consider of taking in advance, the amount of Rs.39,05,121/- from the petitioner of the sum of the Welfare Fund and making the payment to the amount of Rs.51,27,47,703/- to the petitioner is entirety, if that can act as a solution before the software is improvised. However, if nothing materializes, let the amount be paid at the end of four weeks to the petitioner without fail with interest. If not paid at the end of four weeks, the rate of interest on the sum due shall be 12% on the entire sum from the due date of payment till the actual date of payment.
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