Filing of Appeal against the Rectification Rejection Order after the time limitation specified under CGST Act, 2017

[Ravishankar M]

Dear Sir/Madam,

An Adjudication order was passed by the GST authorities U/s.73 on 28-01-2025 and no appeal/rectification application has been filed against the same. But after span of 128 days from the date of adjudication order, the Tax Payer intends to file a rectification appeal U/s.161 of the GST Act, on 05-06-2025 expecting a rejection order since it has been filed belatedly. Later the Tax Payer intends to file an appeal on the rejection order U/s.107 of the CGST Act, 2017. Can the appellate authority accept the appeal on the same, even though no appeal or rectification application was filed within the time of limitation specified under the Act. Please clarify.

AI Summary

Rectification rejection appeal: appellate review limited to rejection legality, not reopening a final adjudication order.
An out-of-time rectification application under Section 161 will normally be rejected as time-barred, and an appeal under Section 107 lies against that rejection; the appellate authority may examine only the validity of the rejection (existence of a mistake apparent on the record, excusability of delay, or jurisdictional/natural justice defects) but cannot reopen the merits of the original adjudication order that has attained finality.