The petitioner challenged the levy of interest and penalty for...

The petitioner challenged the levy of interest and penalty for wrongly availing and utilizing Input Tax Credit (ITC). The court held that unless ITC is wrongfully availed and utilized, interest cannot be levied u/s 50(3) of the GST Act, as amended retrospectively by the Finance Act 2022. The petitioner had debited its credit ledger for the wrongly availed ITC but did not utilize it. The court observed that payment of interest and penalty can only be made by debiting the electronic cash ledger, not the credit ledger, as per Sections 49(4), 50(1) proviso, and Rules 86 and 87. Since the petitioner had not utilized the wrongly availed ITC, the demand for interest and penalty was quashed, and the orders passed by the authorities were set aside.

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