whether drc 7 can be rectified

[Satbir singh wahi]

During Scrutiny of Gst case for financial year 2017-18 , notice DRC 1 was issued. Reply was submitted manually as portal was not accepting reply. Now state GST officer has issued DRC 7 for demand without taking note of reply submitted manually. Whether the State GST officer can rectify/withdraw the DRC 7 or appeal is the only remedy.

[GUNASEKARAN K]

DRC – 07 – “Summary of the order”. As per Rule 142(5) of the Rulesthis form is electronically uploaded by the proper officer after issuance of the final order under section 52 or section 62 or section 63 or section 64 or section 73 or section 75 or section 76 or section 122 or section 123 or section 124 or section 125 or section 127 or section 129 or section 130. The amount of tax payable along with interest and penalty is specified in this form.On submission of the DRC-07 to the GSTN through an API, a demand ID is generated with acreation of liability in the Liability register part II (Other than returns related liability).

DRC – 08 –“Summary of Rectification /Withdrawal Order”. The proper officer can upload this form electronically after passing the final order if he opts to rectify or withdraw the final order which he has passed and uploaded the summary in DRC – 07. An order can be rectified under section 161 of the Act. The time limit for rectification of order is 6(six) months from the date of issue of order. Where the rectification is purely in the nature of correction of a clerical or arithmetical error arising from any accidental slip or error, there is no time limit for rectification of that error. The summary of rectification order or the withdrawal order is issued is this form.

[Satbir singh wahi]

Thanks Sir

[Vijay kumar]

Section 161 comes into play only in the case of "any error which is apparent on the face of record". The given situation cannot fall under the same. Reply should have been filed in DRC-06 within the time specified on the portal, in which case the AA couldn't have ignored the same. What about the personal hearing when the submissions of manual reply could have been recorded by the AA. Even that seems not done. In any case, appeal is the only remedy, in my view whereby the matter can be remanded for disposal after considering the assessee's reply.

In Satyanarayan Laxminarayan Hegde v. Malikarjun Bhavanappa Tirumule  - 1959 (9) TMI 52 - SUPREME COURT the Supreme Court has held thus: “An error which has to be established by a long-drawn process of reasoning on points where there may conceivably be two opinions can hardly be said to be an error apparent on the face of the record. Where an alleged error is far from self-evident and if it can be established, it has to be established, by lengthy and complicated arguments, such an error cannot be cured by a writ of certiorari according to the rule governing the powers of the superior Court to issue such a writ.”

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

You may approach the department and inform them that your reply is not being considered in the Order. If the department considers that the reply was wrongly not considered by them in the order then there is a chance that they will consider your reply and issue a revised order.

[Padmanathan KV]

In my opinion (views personal) :-

1. File a rectification application stating that Order has not considered your reply (assuming you have acknowledgement from Department) which is on their record.

2. In case the application for rectification is rejected or not acted upon, file a writ petition before the High Court as Order is in violation of Natural Justice Principles.

3. If the demand is not very high and you can afford to pay the pre-deposit, consider filing appeal parallelly with rectification application (since time limit of 3 + 1 month applies for appeal).

[KASTURI SETHI]

Such order is invalid order in terms of Section 160 of CGST Act. The Order does not conform to the parameters laid down in Section 160.and hence deserves to be withdrawn. The party should apply for withdrawal of the Adjudication Order instead of rectification.

 

AI Summary

Rectification of adjudication order: remedy to correct or withdraw a GST demand when on record replies were ignored.
DRC-07, when uploaded, creates a demand by recording liability; DRC-08 may be used by the proper officer to rectify or withdraw a final order if the officer opts to correct errors. Rectification is available for errors apparent on the face of the record within the statutory time limit, while clerical or arithmetical slips can be corrected without time restriction. Remedies include requesting reconsideration, filing rectification, and pursuing appeal or writ remedies where natural justice concerns arise.