Court Orders Reopening of GST Portal for Filing TRAN-1

The court directed the respondents to reopen the GST portal within two weeks to allow the petitioner to file the GST TRAN-1. If the portal was not reopened, the respondents were instructed to entertain the petitioner's application manually and verify the claimed credits. The court also directed that the petitioner should be able to pay taxes through the regular electronic system, utilizing credits that could benefit the petitioner.

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Issues:
1. Petitioner seeking direction to grant option to file GST TRAN-1 due to portal issues.

Analysis:
The petitioner filed a writ petition seeking a direction to grant them the option to file GST TRAN-1 by opening the GST portal. The petitioner claimed that the electronic portal was not functioning due to technical glitches, preventing them from filing returns. The respondents, however, informed the court that the portal is now open until 31st March, 2019, allowing the petitioner to file electronically. The petitioner contended that the portal was not opening, leading to a directive for both parties to update the court on the portal's status.

Further Analysis:
The respondent's counsel stated that the deadline for submitting the GST TRAN-1 application was extended by a Circular of the Central Government until 31st March, 2019, and confirmed that the portal is operational. Despite this, the petitioner's counsel presented a screen-shot of the GST TRAN-1 application dated 09.01.2019, indicating that the filing of the declaration was no longer available as the due date had passed. In light of this discrepancy, the court directed the respondents to file their counter affidavit within one month and scheduled the next hearing accordingly.

Conclusion:
The court directed the respondents to reopen the portal within two weeks, failing which they would be required to entertain the petitioner's application manually and issue orders after verifying the claimed credits. Additionally, the respondents were instructed to ensure that the petitioner could pay taxes through the regular electronic system, maintaining the use of credits likely to be considered for the petitioner's benefit.

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