Facts of the Case

The petitioner, Nexus Motors Private Limited, a company with its office at Muzaffarpur, Bihar, filed Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.16523 of 2023 before the Patna High Court against the State of Bihar and its tax authorities, challenging an appellate order that had rejected its appeal solely on the ground of a five-day delay in filing beyond the condonable period. The underlying assessment order of the proper officer had been passed on 27 April 2023. Under Section 107(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, an appeal must ordinarily be filed within three months, extendable by a further one month on sufficient cause, beyond which neither the Appellate Authority nor a Constitutional Court has power to condone delay. While the matter was pending, the CBIC issued Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax dated 2 November 2023 under Section 148 of the CGST Act, granting a special amnesty procedure permitting appeals to be filed by 31 January 2024 for taxpayers who could not file, or whose appeal was rejected for delay, against orders passed by the proper officer on or before 31 March 2023, subject to payment of admitted dues and 12.5% of the disputed tax. The petitioner's order, dated 27.04.2023, fell just outside this literal cut-off.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether the Appellate Authority or a Constitutional Court under Article 226 has power to condone delay in filing an appeal beyond the period prescribed under Section 107(4) of the BGST Act.
  2. Whether the petitioner, whose assessment order was dated 27 April 2023, could avail of the benefit of CBIC Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax, which by its terms applied only to orders passed on or before 31 March 2023.
  3. Whether the 31 March 2023 cut-off date fixed in the notification had a rational basis in relation to similarly placed taxpayers whose limitation period had also expired.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • Challenged the appellate order rejecting the appeal for a mere five-day delay beyond the statutory limitation.
  • Sought the benefit of the CBIC's amnesty Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax dated 2 November 2023, issued under Section 148 of the CGST Act, arguing that a purposive interpretation should extend its benefit to the petitioner's case despite the order being dated after 31 March 2023.

Respondent's Arguments

  • The State, represented by the Government Pleader, did not dispute the terms of Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax but left it to the Court to determine its applicability to the petitioner's order dated 27.04.2023.
  • Implicitly relied on the statutory scheme of Section 107(4) of the BGST Act, which ordinarily bars condonation of delay beyond the prescribed period.

Court Order/Findings

  • Held that Section 107(4) of the BGST Act stipulates a three-month period for filing an appeal, extendable by a further one month, and that there is no power vested either in the Appellate Authority or in a Constitutional Court under Article 226 to extend the period of limitation beyond this.
  • Examined CBIC Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax dated 02.11.2023 issued under Section 148 of the CGST Act, and noted its cut-off of orders passed on or before 31 March 2023 would, on a literal reading, exclude the petitioner.
  • Held that the Court did not see any rationale for the 31 March 2023 cut-off date, observing that since the notification was issued on 02.11.2023, orders passed at least three months before that date ought also to have been considered for the same beneficial treatment.
  • Operative direction: allowed the writ petition, permitting the petitioner to comply with Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax, upon which the appellate order would stand set aside and a fresh consideration made by the Appellate Authority, subject to fulfilling all criteria in the notification.

Important Clarification

While statutory limitation for filing a GST appeal under Section 107 cannot ordinarily be extended by a High Court beyond the maximum condonable period, a beneficial amnesty notification issued under Section 148 of the CGST Act must be interpreted purposively; an arbitrary or unexplained cut-off date in such a notification, which excludes similarly placed taxpayers without rational basis, can be read down or extended by the Court to achieve the notification's remedial object, rather than being applied in a manner that defeats it.

Sections Involved

  • Section 107(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 – limitation for filing appeal and condonable delay.
  • Section 148 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 – power to notify special procedures for classes of taxpayers.
  • CBIC Notification No.53/2023-Central Tax dated 2 November 2023 – GST appeal amnesty scheme.

Decision – In Favour of

The decision is clearly in favour of the Assessee, with the Court allowing the writ petition, extending the amnesty notification's benefit despite the petitioner falling just outside its literal cut-off date, and reviving the appeal for fresh consideration by the Appellate Authority, subject to compliance with the notification's payment conditions.

Related Case Laws

No directly on-point case notes are currently published on this site.

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Judicature at Patna
  • Case No.: Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.16523 of 2023
  • CNR: Not available
  • Coram: Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Rajiv Roy
  • Decision Date: 30 November 2023
  • Disposal Nature: Writ petition allowed; benefit of GST amnesty notification extended

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