GST appellate remedy preserved despite non-functional tribunal, with deposit condition and recovery stayed until appeal disposal.

Where the statutory GST appellate tribunal had been notified but was not yet functional, the High Court protected the assessee's appellate remedy and prevented recovery from defeating that remedy. It directed deposit of 20% of the disputed demand, permitted the appeal to be filed before the tribunal within the stipulated time after it became functional, and kept the statutory stay under Section 112(9) in force until disposal of the appeal. If the appeal is not filed within time, the State may proceed with recovery.

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Issues: Whether, in the absence of a functional Goods and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, the petitioner could be permitted to preserve the appellate remedy by filing the appeal later while obtaining protection of the statutory stay, and whether the recovery proceedings could be kept in abeyance subject to deposit of the prescribed amount.

Analysis: The writ petition arose from a demand under the Chhattisgarh Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017, against which the first appeal had already been partly allowed and the balance demand sustained. As the statutory second appellate forum under the Act had been notified but was not yet functional because the President or Members had not assumed office, the Court accepted that the petitioner should not be deprived of the appellate remedy because of non-constitution of the Tribunal. The Court directed deposit of 20% of the disputed demand and required filing of the appeal before the Tribunal within the stipulated period after the Tribunal becomes functional. It was also directed that the statutory stay under Section 112(9) would continue to operate until the appeal is decided, and if the appeal is not filed within time, the State would be free to proceed with recovery.

Conclusion: The petitioner was granted protection to pursue the statutory appeal before the Tribunal on compliance with the deposit condition, and the recovery action was kept in suspension till the appeal is decided in accordance with law.

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