'Lame Excuses': Gujarat High Court Refuses To Condone Delay In Filing GST Appeal On Ground Of Illness Of Accountant, Closure Of Business

The Gujarat High Court dismissed a plea challenging order of the appellate authority which had rejected the assessee's GST appeal filed belatedly, observing that it cannot quash the order in wake of the "lame excuse" given by the petitioner for condoning delay such as illness of the Accountant and closure of business.The petitioner had filed an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) challenging a 24.04.2024 order which was rejected on the ground that the same is not maintainable and time barred. The petitioner argued that there is a delay of six days in filing the appeal challenging the Order-in-Original dated 24.04.2024. It was submitted that under the provisions of Section 107 (Appeals to Appellate Authority) of the Goods and Services Tax Act 2017, the appeal memo was uploaded online on 05.10.2024. However, the same has been rejected on the ground of delay.It was submitted that the Order-in-Original is also required to be quashed and set aside on various grounds one of which is that the petitioner had already paid a cumulative GST amount totalling to Rs.14,35,326. It is further submitted that after rejection of its GST number the petitioner had also deposited an amount of Rs.4,57,282 at the time of filing the appeal. The petitioner undertook to make payment of remaining GST liability amounting to Rs.85,316. Thus, it was submitted that the adjudicating authority has completely lost sight of the demand raised addition of Rs.1,98,80,000. A division bench of Justice AS Supehia and Justice Pranav Trivedi noted that as per Section 107(4), the maximum period of presenting the appeal against the Order-in-Original was 3 months and thereafter, if the Appellate Authority is of the opinion that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause of presenting the appeal and the same can be allowed to be presented within further period of one month. "Thus, the maximum period would be 120 days i.e. one month is only allowed if the Appellate Authority is satisfied that the appellant was presented by sufficient cause from presenting the appeal within a period of three months. Thus, at the first instant, the petitioner was required to file an appeal within a period of three months, and only if the Appellate Authority gets satisfied that the cause shown by the petitioner for non-filing of the appeal within a period of three months; the Appellate Authority has the power to give one month more to present the same. In the present case, the petitioner has filed appeal after a period of 6 days which is over and above the aforesaid period. Thus, even if the Appellate Authority in its discretion had accepted the cause shown by the petitioner for belatedly filing the appeal, the Appellate Authority had the power to condone the delay for a period of one month and allow such appeal to be filed within period of limitation of one month only. Thus, the Appellate Authority has precisely held that it does not have the power to condone the delay in filing the appeal beyond the period of limitation of 120 days," the bench said. On the high court's power to condone such delay, the bench referred to various judgments and said that the Supreme Court had held that even if the writ petition is filed after the expiry of maximum prescribed period of limitation, though alternative efficacious remedy is available, the High Court cannot disregard the statutory period for redressal of the grievance and entertain the writ petition of such a party as a matter of course."Thus, on the same principles as enunciated by the Apex Court, we are not inclined to set aside the order passed by the Appellate Authority and more particularly in wake of the lame excuse given by the petitioner for condoning the delay such as the illness of the Accountant and closure of business," the bench added.The plea was dismissed. Case title: HARSH DEEPK SHAH v/s UNION OF INDIA & ORS.R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 17382 of 2025Click Here To Read/Download Order

'Lame Excuses': Gujarat High Court Refuses To Condone Delay In Filing GST Appeal On Ground Of Illness Of Accountant, Closure Of Business

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