Availability of an efficacious GST appellate remedy limits...

Availability of an efficacious GST appellate remedy limits recourse to writ jurisdiction against penalty proceedings and appellate orders. Where the GST Tribunal has appointed Presiding Officers and an appeal may be filed within the permitted time, challenges alleging breach of natural justice or lack of competence of the show-cause issuing officer should be examined by the Tribunal where they depend on disputed facts and documents. Writ jurisdiction cannot be used to bypass the statutory pre-deposit requirement, particularly because the specialised Tribunal includes judicial and technical members. The writ petition was dismissed, with liberty to pursue the statutory appeal, and the merits of the penalty challenge were not adjudicated.