20% Pre-Deposit of Tax Amount is Pre-condition to Appeal before CT&GST Officer: Supreme Court Dismisses Appellant’s Case [Read Judgement]
The petitioner had earlier contended that they be permitted to appeal their case with a pre-deposit of 10%.
Predeposit - Tax - Taxscan
Predeposit - Tax - Taxscan
The Supreme Court of India recently dismissed an appeal filed by M/s Triveni Engineers for failing to comply with the mandatory pre-deposit of 20% of the disputed tax demand.
Triveni Engineers had filed the present appeal against the Orissa High Court’s rejection of its statutory appeal against the decision of the Additional Commissioner, Commercial Tax (CT) & Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Triveni Engineers had challenged an assessment order. When the appeal was preferred before the Additional Commissioner (CT & GST), Barbil Circle, it was rejected on 17 January 2025 on the ground that the appellant had not deposited 20% of the disputed demand as mandated under Section 16(4) of the Odisha Entry Tax Act, 1999. A revision against the rejection was also dismissed.
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Aggrieved, the petitioner approached the Orissa High Court at Cuttack through W.P.(C) No. 3981 of 2025. The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Murahari Sri Raman observed that the statute clearly provides that no appeal can be entertained unless accompanied by proof of full payment of admitted tax and 20% of the disputed tax or interest.
The Court held that while the petitioner sought to deposit only 10% of the disputed demand, such a plea was unsustainable in the face of clear statutory language. The Bench ruled that courts cannot rewrite or incorporate any words to the statutory provisions. The Orissa High court disposed of the petition but allowed the petitioner three weeks’ time to deposit 20% of the disputed demand and contest the matter before the appellate authority.
In the present matter before the Supreme Court, the appellant was represented by Wills Mathews, Paul John Edison, Dhanesh M Nair, S Soorya Gayathry, Subhasis, Riya Thomas, Rakesh Garg, Ashish Gopal Garg and Shweta Garg while there was no representation for the respondent officer.
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The Bench of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Prasanna B. Varale found no illegality in the decision of the High Court. Since the appellant had failed to comply with the statutory mandate of depositing 20% of the disputed demand, the Court held that the dismissal of the appeal was justified.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court dismissed Triveni Engineers’ appeal, affirming the Orissa High Court’s ruling and reinforcing that the condition to submit 20% of the disputed tax amount as pre-deposit is a binding statutory prerequisite for maintaining appeals under the CT & GST framework.
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