Statutory stay on reduced GST pre-deposit cannot be denied while the appellate tribunal remains unconstituted.

Pending constitution of the GST Appellate Tribunal, the Court noted that the amended pre-deposit regime under the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act reduced the appeal deposit requirement to ten per cent, and held that an assessee should not lose the statutory benefit merely because the appellate forum is unavailable. It therefore recognised stay of recovery on deposit of the prescribed amount already paid under Section 107(6) and ten per cent of the disputed tax, with balance recovery stayed. The protection was, however, treated as temporary: once the Tribunal becomes functional, the assessee must file the statutory appeal, failing which the revenue may proceed in accordance with law.

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Issues: (i) Whether, pending constitution of the Goods and Services Tax Tribunal, the petitioner was entitled to statutory stay of recovery on deposit of the reduced pre-deposit amount under Section 112 of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. (ii) Whether the stay relief could continue indefinitely without filing an appeal once the Tribunal becomes functional.

Issue (i): Whether, pending constitution of the Goods and Services Tax Tribunal, the petitioner was entitled to statutory stay of recovery on deposit of the reduced pre-deposit amount under Section 112 of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Analysis: The statutory regime was noted to have reduced the pre-deposit requirement for maintaining an appeal before the Tribunal from twenty per cent to ten per cent. Since the Tribunal had not yet been constituted, the petitioner could not be denied the benefit of the amended statutory protection merely because the appellate forum was unavailable.

Conclusion: The petitioner is entitled to stay of recovery on deposit of ten per cent of the disputed tax amount, along with the amount already deposited under Section 107(6) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and the balance recovery proceedings stand stayed.

Issue (ii): Whether the stay relief could continue indefinitely without filing an appeal once the Tribunal becomes functional.

Analysis: The Court balanced the statutory benefit with the need to prevent an open-ended stay. It held that the relief was linked to the temporary non-constitution of the Tribunal and that the petitioner would be required to pursue the appeal once the Tribunal is constituted and functional.

Conclusion: The petitioner must file the appeal under Section 112 of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 after the Tribunal becomes functional, failing which the respondents may proceed in accordance with law.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was disposed of by granting conditional stay of recovery on the prescribed pre-deposit, with the obligation to pursue the statutory appeal upon constitution of the Tribunal.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statutory appellate tribunal is not yet constituted, an assessee cannot be denied the benefit of statutory stay on making the prescribed pre-deposit, but such interim protection may be made conditional upon filing the appeal once the tribunal becomes functional.

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