Court orders fresh appeal on State GST Portal, stresses on communication and rectification of filing errors.

The court directed the petitioner to file a fresh appeal on the appropriate State Portal of GST and condoned the delay in filing due to confusion. It emphasized the obligation of authorities to notify appellants of filing in the wrong forum and advised all Appellate authorities to inform appellants of errors in filing appeals via email. The orders under Annexure-6 and 7 were quashed, enabling the petitioner to rectify the filing error and emphasizing the importance of communication and guidance to prevent procedural errors.

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Issues:
1. Filing of appeal in wrong portal.
2. Refusal to accept hard copy of appeal.
3. Obligations of authorities in case of filing in wrong forum.
4. Directions to file a fresh appeal and condone delay.

Analysis:
1. The petitioner filed an appeal in FORM GST APL-01 under Annexure-6 but uploaded it on the wrong portal, the Central Portal instead of the State Portal of GST. The State GST Appellate Authority could not find the appeal on their portal. The respondents stated that the online appeal was accessible only by the CGST authority or jurisdictional CGST offices, not the State GST appellate authority. The hard copy of the appeal was returned as final acknowledgment was not issued by the State GST Appellate Court.

2. The Appellate authority under Annexure-7 refused to accept the hard copy of the appeal since it was not found on the State GST portal. The court noted that the petitioner was unaware of filing in the wrong portal and directed the authorities to inform appellants of such errors. The State GST authority later located the appeal filed by the petitioner before the Central authorities.

3. The court emphasized that in such cases, authorities should notify appellants of filing in the wrong forum to allow necessary action. The judgment directed the petitioner to file a fresh appeal on the appropriate State Portal of GST. It was also decided to condone the delay in filing the appeal due to the confusion regarding the correct portal.

4. The judgment concluded by advising all Appellate authorities, Central and State, to inform appellants of errors in filing appeals before the wrong forum via email. The writ petition was disposed of, and orders under Annexure-6 and 7 were quashed to enable the petitioner to file a fresh appeal in the correct portal, emphasizing the need for communication and guidance in such situations to avoid procedural errors.

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