GST demand paid without protest and without prescribed objections cannot later be treated as involuntary for writ relief.

A person who pays a GST demand in full without contemporaneous protest and without using the prescribed objection procedure under the GST Rules cannot later treat the payment as involuntary or seek refund and writ relief on that basis. The petitioner here did not make a partial payment or file objections in the prescribed form before completing payment, and a belated letter did not show that the payment was made under protest or that refund rights were timely asserted. The challenge to the demand and consequential communication therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner, having paid the tax demand without contemporaneous protest and without following the procedure for partial payment and objections under the GST Rules, could seek refund and an opportunity to appeal against the concluded proceedings.

Analysis: The notice of demand was followed by an intimation concluding the proceedings after payment of the tax and other dues. Under Rule 142(1A) and Rule 142(2A) of the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017, a person against whom a demand is raised may make a partial payment and file submissions against the proposed liability in Form GST DRC-01A. The petitioner did not adopt that course, but instead made full payment without any recorded protest at the time of payment. A later letter, sent months afterwards, did not establish that the payment had been made under protest or that a refund claim had been contemporaneously asserted. In the absence of material showing payment under protest, the petitioner could not claim that the departmental communication foreclosed a remedy that was otherwise preserved in law.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to the reliefs sought, and the challenge to the demand and consequential communication failed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was rejected because the demand was paid without contemporaneous protest and the statutory procedure for contesting the liability was not availed.

Ratio Decidendi: A person who pays a GST demand in full without contemporaneous protest and without using the prescribed objection procedure cannot later treat the payment as involuntary or seek writ relief on that basis.

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