Successful TRAN-1 filing cannot be defeated by unexplained ledger non-reflection; authorities must verify transitional credit on merits.

Where TRAN-1 is filed successfully within time, non-reflection of the transitional credit in the electronic credit ledger does not, by itself, defeat the claim. The Bombay High Court noted that the grievance was not failure to file the form, but an unexplained system failure to reflect the credit, and held that digitisation cannot be used to deny an otherwise eligible transition claim. The authorities were directed to verify the VAT credit claim on merits and take steps to transition the credit into the taxpayer's electronic credit ledger, while leaving the underlying entitlement open for verification.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner, having successfully filed TRAN-1 within time, was entitled to a direction for transition of the claimed credit into its electronic credit ledger despite non-reflection of that credit in the ledger and the absence of any accepted technical error on the portal.

Analysis: The filing of Form GST TRAN-1 was admitted to have been successful. The grievance was not that the form could not be filed, but that the credit did not get reflected in the electronic credit ledger. The respondents offered no satisfactory explanation beyond stating that no technical glitch was found by the IT grievance mechanism. The Court distinguished the cases where filing itself had failed or where a vires challenge was involved, and held that the object of digitisation is to facilitate taxpayers and not to defeat an otherwise eligible claim by an unexplained system failure. The Court also clarified that it was not finally examining the merits of the VAT-credit entitlement, which still required verification by the authorities.

Conclusion: The petitioner was entitled to writ relief. The respondents were directed to consider the claim on merits, verify the VAT amount claimed, and take steps for transition of the credit into the petitioner's electronic credit ledger.

Ratio Decidendi: Where TRAN-1 is admittedly filed successfully within time, non-reflection of transitional credit in the electronic credit ledger cannot, by itself, defeat the claim; the authorities must verify the claim on merits and cannot reject it for an unexplained digital failure.

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