GST refund portal relief: appellate orders remanded and taxpayers allowed to file claims under "Others" if needed.

The appellate orders were set aside and the matters remanded for fresh adjudication because reconsideration in accordance with law, judicial discipline, and natural justice was required. The court directed the appellate authority to pass fresh orders within the stipulated time frame. On the refund-filing issue, limited relief was granted: if the GST portal did not enable filing under "Export of Services", the petitioners could upload the claims under "Others" so that the statutory refund claims were not blocked by the portal configuration. The broader challenge to the GSTN portal was expressly left open.

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Issues: (i) Whether the impugned appellate orders were liable to be set aside and the matters remanded for fresh decision; (ii) whether, if the GST portal did not permit filing of refund claims under the category "Export of Services", the petitioners could be permitted to file such claims under the category "Others".

Issue (i): Whether the impugned appellate orders were liable to be set aside and the matters remanded for fresh decision.

Analysis: The orders of the appellate authority were directed to be reconsidered in accordance with law, with adherence to judicial discipline and after following the principles of natural justice. The matters were sent back for fresh adjudication within a fixed time frame.

Conclusion: The impugned orders were set aside and the matters were remanded to the appellate authority for fresh orders.

Issue (ii): Whether, if the GST portal did not permit filing of refund claims under the category "Export of Services", the petitioners could be permitted to file such claims under the category "Others".

Analysis: Limited ancillary relief was granted to ensure that refund claims could still be uploaded on the portal if the designated category was unavailable. The wider challenge to the GSTN portal itself was not decided and was expressly kept open.

Conclusion: The petitioners were permitted to file the refund claims under the category "Others" if filing under "Export of Services" was not enabled on the portal.

Final Conclusion: The petition succeeded in part by securing remand of the impugned orders and limited portal-related relief, while the broader challenge to the portal remained open.

Ratio Decidendi: An appellate order may be set aside and remanded where fresh consideration is required in accordance with law, judicial discipline, and natural justice, and ancillary relief may be granted to prevent procedural blockage of statutory refund claims.

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