A challenge by the State to a first appellate order under the...

A challenge by the State to a first appellate order under the GST enactment should ordinarily be pursued before the statutory appellate forum, which can examine questions of fact and law; writ jurisdiction should not be exercised at first instance merely because the Tribunal was not fully functional. The appellate order remained operative because it had neither been stayed nor set aside, so compliance could not be withheld on the basis of a proposed challenge. Release of the goods was therefore directed subject to the petitioner furnishing a bond and local surety, preserving consequential recovery if the State ultimately succeeded in appeal.

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