TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (1) TMI 50
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ection of his appeals on the ground of limitation. 2. The issue involved in the appeals related to the claim for refund of unutilized input tax credit for the months of July, August, September and October, all of the year 2017. The assessing authority partly rejected the claim for refund by Ext.P1 order produced in each of the writ petitions dated 29.03.2019 and 03.04.2019. 3. The grievance of the writ petitioner arises from the allegation that Ext.P1 order was never uploaded in the web portal of the respondents and hence, the petitioner could not file appeals in the electronic form, which is mandated as per the present provisions of law. According to the petitioner, Ext.P1 order was communicated to him only on 10.04.2019 and instead ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ought to have been filed within three months from the date on which the order impugned is communicated and if the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from presenting the appeal within the aforesaid period of three months, then the Appellate Authority was entitled to condone the delay up to a further period of one month. The respondents contended that the appeals were filed beyond 153 days, after the expiry of the condonable period of 30 days. 6. I have heard the arguments of Sri. A.Krishnan, learned counsel for the petitioner, Smt. Kaveri S. Thampi, learned Standing Counsel for respondents 1 and 2 and Sri. S. Manu, learned Assistant Solicitor General of India for the 3rd respondent. 7. Section 107(1) of the Act contemplates th....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ppellate Authority went in a mechanical manner without appreciating that the orders that were impugned before the Appellate Authority, though required to have been uploaded in the web portal, were never uploaded. The period of limitation will start to run, as per the provisions of the Act, only when the order is uploaded in the web portal and not when the order is received in the physical form by the petitioner. When admittedly there was a failure on the part of the respondents to upload the order in the original, petitioner cannot be mulcted with the responsibility of preferring appeals within the time period stipulated. The time period stipulated in the statute for filing an appeal is part of the same transaction that exists with the uplo....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....jarat, while considering Gujarat State Petronet Limited v. Union of India (2020 (41) G.S.T.L. 442) had by judgment dated 05.03.2020 set aside the order of the Appellate Authority, and ordered the delay to be condoned in preferring the appeal manually and remanded the matter back for fresh consideration of the appeal. The observations of the Court are relevant in this context: "8. On a perusal of the above provisions, it is apparent that the appeal is required to be filed in electronic mode only and if any other mode is to be prescribed then the same is required to be notified by way of a notification. There is nothing on record to show that any notification has been issued for manual filing of an appeal. In such circumstances, thou....