Right of appeal under GST cannot be defeated by electronic filing issues; manual filing and delay condonation may be sought.

An order under the CGST Act was treated as appealable under Section 107, and the writ route was not regarded as the proper remedy while the statutory appeal remained available. The right of appeal was recognised as a substantive statutory right that should not be defeated by technical difficulty in electronic filing. Where electronic filing could not be effectively pursued on the stated facts, the court permitted the taxpayer to make a representation to the Commissioner for permission to file the appeal manually, with liberty to seek condonation of delay.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner, being unable to file the statutory appeal electronically, could be permitted to pursue manual filing of the appeal and related representation for condonation of delay.

Analysis: The order under challenge was held to be appealable under Section 107 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and the writ remedy was not treated as the proper course where the statutory appellate remedy remained available. The Court recognized that the right of appeal is a substantive statutory right and should not be defeated by a technical difficulty in electronic filing. On the stated facts, where electronic filing could not be effectively pursued, the Court directed that a representation be made to the Commissioner for permission to file the appeal manually along with an application for condonation of delay.

Conclusion: The petitioner was permitted to seek manual filing of the appeal by making the appropriate representation, with liberty to seek condonation of delay.

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