PRE-DEPSOIT ISSUES

[Manoj Goyal]

Dear All,

I have paid the money through DRC-03 under protest and have received from department DRC-04.Now, i want to file an appeal and want to claim the amount paid under protest. Please suggest how to proceed.

[KASTURI SETHI]

Pl. elaborate your query. Give full facts and sequence of events.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Query is not clear. Please elaborate it.

[Shilpi Jain]

Any pre-deposit paid is considered to have been paid under protest. If you still want to make it more evident, you can write to the department by attaching the DRC-03 that this is to be considered to have been paid under protest.

[KASTURI SETHI]

Even if a letter of protest is not filed, the filing of an appeal against the Order-in-Original is itself a protest---CESTAT Ahmedabad Order dated 2.12.21 in the case of Nayara Energy Ltd. - 2021 (12) TMI 74 - CESTAT AHMEDABAD

[Manoj Goyal]

We had received an summon from DGGI where an X amount in respect of 3 parties were being asked to pay. At that point of time, we had paid the X amount through DRC-03. Now, from jursidiction office, we have received DRC-04 ( Acknowledgement Auto generated letter).

Now, we want to refund of this amount. How to proceed further. and if we are required to file appeal then, against which order appeal should be filed as DRC-04 is not an order.

[KASTURI SETHI]

In my view you will have to file writ petition with jurisdictional High Court direct. (Article 226 of the Constitution of India refers.

You can take shelter of the following judgement of Punjab & Haryana Court Chandigarh

2023 (8) TMI 691 - PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT - M/S. PARSVNATH TRADERS AND M/S MAHAVIRA DYES & CHEMICALS VERSUS PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER, CGST AND ANOTHER

 

AI Summary

Paid under protest: statutory pre-deposit treated as protest; seek refund by writ petition where no appealable order exists.
Pre-deposit paid via statutory mechanism should be treated as paid under protest; an auto-generated departmental acknowledgement does not constitute an adjudicatory order and does not itself create the statutory trigger for an appeal. Taxpayers may make their protest explicit by sending a written communication attaching the payment record, and where no Order-in-Original exists to appeal against, filing a writ petition before the jurisdictional High Court is a practical remedy to seek refund or review of the pre-deposit.