Transitional GST credit via Form TRAN-I and GSTR-3B was preserved despite portal unavailability and filing deadline constraints.

Unutilized transitional input tax credit under GST was discussed in relation to filing Form TRAN-I and the effect of portal unavailability. The text states that the assessee's entitlement to transitional credit should not be defeated by procedural inability to file on the portal, and that an alternative claim through GSTR-3B may be permitted where filing is prevented. It also notes a filing extension and states that Form TRAN-I could be filed up to 31.01.2020, with the credit claim allowed in GSTR-3B for February 2020, electronically or manually, if the portal did not open in time.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to file Form TRAN-I to claim unutilized transitional input tax credit under the GST regime, and whether an alternative claim through GSTR-3B would be permitted if the portal remained unavailable.

Analysis: The dispute concerned migration of unutilized input tax credit from the pre-GST regime into the GST framework. The Court treated the matter as covered by the earlier decision on transitional credit and noted the concession of the parties that the issue was already decided in favour of assessees. It also recorded the extension of the annual return filing date and provided a safeguard for the petitioner if the portal did not permit filing of the form within time.

Conclusion: The petitioner was held entitled to file Form TRAN-I up to 31.01.2020, and if prevented by non-opening of the portal, was permitted to claim the benefit of unutilized credit in GSTR-3B for February 2020, electronically or manually.

Ratio Decidendi: Transitional credit under the GST regime cannot be denied where the assessee is otherwise entitled to claim it, and procedural inability to file on the portal must not defeat the substantive right to avail such credit.

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