TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (10) TMI 924
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....hus, the challenge raised to the vires of Rule 36(4) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the 'CGST Rules, 2017'), has been specifically given up, at this stage. 3. Primary relief being sought by the petitioner is against the order dated 7.4.2021 passed by the Deputy Commissioner, Sector-2, Commercial/State Tax, Gautam Buddh Nagar. By that order, passed under Section 74 (9) of the CGST Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), the said authority has opined that the petitioner had availed/utilised excess Input Tax Credit (ITC in short), Rs. 110,06,90,100.31, for the months of February 2020 to August 2020. Construing the same to be a violation of Rule 36(4) of the CGST Rules, 2017, it has been directed to be reversed and added to the output tax liability of the petitioner, with consequent interest obligation. Also, an equal amount of penalty referable to Section 74 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017 has been imposed. Thus, total demand of Rs. 235.52 crores had been created - inclusive of interest @ Rs. 15,40,00,000/-. Against that demand, the petitioner had self-deposited Rs. 11,00,69,010/- (provisional....
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....e petitioner claims there is no excess claim made by it, for the months (period) February 2020 to August 2020. The revenue claims otherwise. Arising from such difference of perception, a common tabular chart (for the period under dispute), reflecting the Tax Invoice figures as per GSTR-3B (filed by the petitioner) and GSTR-2A (generated upon details furnished by the suppliers), as also the computation of ITC as per Rule 36(4) of CGST Rules, 2017, and the now disputed mismatch thereof, has been prepared by the revenue authorities. It is a part of the impugned order itself. It reads as below: MONTH As per GSTR-3B As per GSTR-2A As per GSTR-2A+10% MISMATCH Feb-2020 77,04,29,644.86 80,60,29,310.96 88,66,32,242.06 11,62,02,597.20 March-2020 83,20,71,671.18 78,87,34,471.17 86,76,07,918.29 3,55,36,247.11 April-2020 1,70,636.19 23,18,238.63 25,50,062.49 23,79,426.30 May-2020 94,57,01,388.49 1,05,48,33,578.57 1,16,03,16,936.43 21,46,15,547.94 June-2020 1,05,44,63,303.00 24,71,30,463.17 27,18,43,509.49 -78,26,19,793.51 July-2020 1,69,88,53,146.47 2,45,09,73,609.99 2,69,60,70,970.99 99,72,....
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....ular No. 123/42/219-GST dated 11.11.2019, specifically clause 3(3) thereof. That administrative instruction issued by the CBIC is described to be in the teeth of Rule 36(4) of the Rules read with its first proviso. Insofar as the Rule referred to above prescribed a cumulative period only, it was never made open to the administrative authorities to override that piece of delegated legislation to provide for a month-to-month reconciliation, by engaging and reading the words "on the due date of filing of the returns" (used in the impugned Circular), as the date when reconciliation was to be made. Alternatively, it has been submitted, since the Circular was issued prior to introduction of the first proviso to Rule 36(4), it therefore lost its contrary intent and consequentially its enforceability-to the binding force of law created upon incorporation of the first proviso to Rule 36(4) w.e.f. 03.04.2020. 13. To bolster his submission, the learned Senior Counsel has laid emphasis on the provisions of the Act to establish that the ITC is the backbone of the GST regime. Entitlement thereto arises under Section 16 of the Act by way of a statutory right. The same cannot be defeated either....
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....ubmit, furnishing of details on GSTR-I by a supplier and the corresponding information that arises to the purchaser on GSTR-2A is nothing more than a facilitation that does not have any effect on the ability of the taxpayer to avail ITC on self-assessment. That would remain governed by the provisions of Section 16 of the Act. 18. Thus, both in view of the clear language of the law that must prevail over the Circular/Administrative Instruction dated 11.11.2019, as also on the test of general principle that arises under the GST regime, the construction made by the respondent-revenue authorities is wholly unfounded in law. 19. The fact that the revenue authorities chose to disregard that law and recovered the entire amount while the matter was being seriously contested before this Court, is described to have given rise to the entitlement of full restitution together with interest at the market rate, on such restitution. 20. In reply, the learned Additional Advocate General has passionately urged that there is no error in the impugned order and/or the Circular. In the first place, GSTR-3B is the monthly return prescribed to be filed by 20th March 2020. That requirement of the ....
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.... to submit, any discrepancy that may have arisen had to be communicated by the dealer availing the excess ITC. That excess claim was then required to be rectified under Section 42(5) of the Act. By way of a pari materia provision (under Section 43 as then existed), a similar addition was to be made at the hands of the supplier. 22. Referring to the impugned order, primarily the chart extracted above, it has been submitted, the revenue authorities have given an exact reconciliation to the petitioner as entitled - for each month i.e., February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September 2020. The amounts found mentioned in the monthly returns on Form GSTR- 3B and the amounts found recorded in the GSTR-2A for each of those months, have been exactly mentioned. There is no dispute raised by the petitioner as to the correctness of any of those amounts. To that, 10% additional benefit has been computed in the fourth column of that chart - being the ITC entitlement available at the relevant time. It is in accordance with Rule 36(4) of the Rules. Having computed those figures, the revenue authorities found, in certain months the petitioner had not committed any violation since ....
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.... no benefit of the kind claimed by the petitioner was ever conferred. 26. In support of his submission, the learned Additional Advocate General has also referred to the Notifications with respect to which the above Circular had been issued. According to him, Notification No. 30 of 2020 only sought to add proviso to Rule 36(4) with effect from 31.3.2020. Similarly, Notification No. 31 of 2020 only provided for variable interest in the event of late filing of returns. Notification no. 32 of 2020 only provided for waiver of the late fee. Similarly, Notification no.33 of 2020 only provided for a late fee on late filing of GSTR-I. In the same light, Notification no.35 of 2020 provided benefit of extension of time limits, to complete or comply any action by any authority etc., that may otherwise have been required to be completed or complied between 30.3.2020 to 29.6.2020. That timeline was extended up to 30.06.2020. However, while issuing such beneficial notifications and while clarifying that law, no provision was made to extend the date of filing of form GSTR-3B. 27. Based on that stand, it has been doggedly asserted that the ITC credit remained frozen between the 11th and the 2....
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....of and on account of such registered person.] [(ba) the details of input tax credit in respect of the said supply communicated to such registered person under Section 38 has not been restricted;] (c) subject to the provisions of Section 41, CGST (Amdt.) Act, 2018 (31 of 2018), dt. 30.8.2018, the tax charged in respect of such supply has been actually paid to the Government, either in cash or through utilisation of input tax credit admissible in respect of the said supply; and (d) he has furnished the return under section 39: PROVIDED that where the goods against an invoice are received in lots or instalments, the registered person shall be entitled to take credit upon receipt of the last lot or instalment: PROVIDED FURTHER that where a recipient fails to pay to the supplier of goods or services or both, other than the supplies on which tax is payable on reverse charge basis, the amount towards the value of supply along with tax payable thereon within a period of one hundred and eighty days from the date of issue of invoice by the supplier, an amount equal to the input tax credit availed by the recipient shall be added to his output tax l....
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....t of the said supplies:] PROVIDED that the registered person shall not be allowed to furnish the details of outward supplies during the period from the eleventh day to the fifteenth day of the month succeeding the tax period: PROVIDED further that the Commissioner may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, by notification, extend the time limit for furnishing such details for such class of taxable persons as may be specified therein: PROVIDED also that any extension of time limit notified by the Commissioner of State tax or Commissioner of Union territory tax shall be deemed to be notified by the Commissioner. (2) Every registered person who has been communicated the details under sub- section (3) of section 38 or the details pertaining to inward supplies of Input Service Distributor under sub-section (4) of section 38, shall either accept or reject the details so communicated, on or before the seventeenth day, but not before the fifteenth day, of the month succeeding the tax period and the details furnished by him under sub-section (1) shall stand amended accordingly. (3) Any registered person, who has furnished the details under sub-s....
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....ding inward supplies of goods or services or both on which the tax is payable on reverse charge basis under this Act and inward supplies of goods or services or both taxable under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act or on which integrated goods and services tax is payable under section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), and credit or debit notes received in respect of such supplies during a tax period after the tenth day but on or before the fifteenth day of the month succeeding the tax period in such form and manner as may be prescribed: Provided that the Commissioner may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, by notification, extend the time limit for furnishing such details for such class of taxable persons as may be specified therein : Provided further that any extension of time limit notified by the Commissioner of State tax or Commissioner of Union territory tax shall be deemed to be notified by the Commissioner. (3) The details of supplies modified, deleted or included by the recipient and furnished under sub-section (2) shall be communicated to the supplier concerned in such manner and within such time as may be prescribed. (4)....
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....tax period; (b) with the integrated goods and services tax paid under section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 in respect of goods imported by him; and (c) for duplication of claims of input tax credit. (2) The claim of input tax credit in respect of invoices or debit notes relating to inward supply that match with the details of corresponding outward supply or with the integrated goods and services tax paid under section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 in respect of goods imported by him shall be finally accepted and such acceptance shall be communicated, in such manner as may be prescribed, to the recipient. (3) Where the input tax credit claimed by a recipient in respect of an inward supply is in excess of the tax declared by the supplier for the same supply or the outward supply is not declared by the supplier in his valid returns, the discrepancy shall be communicated to both such persons in such manner as may be prescribed. (4) The duplication of claims for reduction in output tax liability shall be communicated to the supplier in such manner as may be prescribed. (5) The amount in respect of which any discrepancy is co....
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....validate, modify or delete the details of supplies furnished by the suppliers. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 41, section 42 or section 43, the procedure for availing of input tax credit by the recipient and verification thereof shall be such as may be prescribed. (3) The procedure for furnishing the details of outward supplies by the supplier on the common portal, for the purposes of availing input tax credit by the recipient shall be such as may be prescribed. (4) The procedure for availing input tax credit in respect of outward supplies not furnished under sub-section (3) shall be such as may be prescribed and such procedure may include the maximum amount of the input tax credit which can be so availed, not exceeding twenty per cent of the input tax credit available, on the basis of details furnished by the suppliers under the said subsection. (5) The amount of tax specified in the outward supplies for which the details have been furnished by the supplier under sub-section (3) shall be deemed to be the tax payable by him under the provisions of the Act. (6) The supplier and the recipient of a supply shall be jointly....
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....ED that if the said document does not contain all the specified particulars but contains the details of the amount of tax charged, description of goods or services, total value of supply of goods or services or both, GSTIN of the supplier and recipient and place of supply in case of inter-State supply, input tax credit may be availed by such registered person. (3) No input tax credit shall be availed by a registered person in respect of any tax that has been paid in pursuance of any order where any demand has been confirmed on account of any fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression of facts. (4) Input tax credit to be availed by a registered person in respect of invoices or debit notes, the details of which have not been furnished by the suppliers under sub-section (1) of section 37 in FORM GSTR-1 or using the invoice furnishing facility, shall not exceed 10 per cent of the eligible credit available in respect of invoices or debit notes the details of which have been furnished by the suppliers under sub-section (1) of section 37 in FORM GSTR-1 or using the invoice furnishing facility: PROVIDED that the said condition shall apply cumulatively for the peri....
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....s or both under section 37, shall furnish such details in FORM GSTR-1 electronically through the common portal, either directly or through a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner. (2) The details of outward supplies of goods or services or both furnished in FORM GSTR-1 shall include the- (a) invoice wise details of all- (i) inter-State and intra-State supplies made to the registered persons; and (ii) inter-State supplies with invoice value more than two and a half lakh rupees made to the unregistered persons; (b) consolidated details of all- (i) intra-State supplies made to unregistered persons for each rate of tax; and (ii) State wise inter-State supplies with invoice value upto two and a half lakh rupees made to unregistered persons for each rate of tax; (c) debit and credit notes, if any, issued during the month for invoices issued previously. (3) The details of outward supplies furnished by the supplier shall be made available electronically to the concerned registered persons (recipients) in Part A of FORM GSTR-2A, in FORM GSTR-4A and in FORM GSTR-6A through the common portal after the ....
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.... section 37 in FORM GSTR-1 or using the invoice furnishing facility, if he has not furnished the return in FORM GSTR-3B for preceding tax period." 37. Rule 60 relating to the form and manner to ascertain the details of inward supplies read as below: "60. Form and manner of furnishing details of inward supplies.- (1) Every registered person, other than a person referred to in section 14 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, required to furnish the details of inward supplies of goods or services or both received during a tax period under sub-section (2) of section 38 shall, on the basis of details contained in Part A, Part B and Part C of FORM GSTR-2A, prepare such details as specific in sub-section (1) of the said section and furnish the same in FORM GSTR-2 electronically through the common portal, either directly or from a Facilitation Centre notified by the Commissioner, after including therein details of such other inward supplies, if any, required to be furnished under sub-section (2) of section 38. (2) Every registered person shall furnish the details, if any, required under sub-section (5) of section 38 electronically in FORM GSTR-2.....
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....GST Rules) has been inserted vide notification No. 49/2019- Central Tax, dated 09.10.2019. The said sub-rule provides restriction in availment of input tax credit (ITC) in respect of invoices or debit notes, the details of which have not been uploaded by the suppliers under sub-section (1) of section 37of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as the CGST Act). 2. To ensure uniformity in the implementation of the provisions of the law across the field formations, the Board, in exercise of its powers conferred under section 168(1) of the CGST Act hereby clarifies various issues in succeeding paragraphs. 3. The conditions and eligibility for the ITC that may be availed by the recipient shall continue to be governed as per the provisions of Chapter V of the CGST Act and the rules made thereunder. This being a new provision, the restriction is not imposed through the common portal and it is the responsibility of the taxpayer that credit is availed in terms of the said rule and therefore, the availment of restricted credit in terms of sub-rule (4) of rule 36 of CGST Rules shall be done on self-assessment basis by the tax payers. Various i....
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....eptember, 2020. 2. Notification No.31/2020- Central Tax, dated 03.04.2020 A lower rate of interest of NIL for first 15 days after the due date of filing return in FORM GSTR-3B and @ 9% thereafter is notified for those registered persons having aggregate turnover above Rs. 5 Crore and NIL rate of interest is notified for those registered persons having aggregate turnover below Rs. 5 Crore in the preceding financial year, for the tax periods of February, 2020 to April, 2020. This lower rate of interest shall be subject to condition that due tax is paid by filing return in FORM GSTR- 3B by the date(s) as specified in the Notification. 3. Notification No. 32/2020- Central Tax, dated 03.04.2020 Notification under section 128 of CGST Act for waiver of late fee for delay in furnishing returns in FORM GSTR-3B for the tax periods of February, 2020 to April, 2020 provided the return in FORM GSTR- 3B by the date as specified in the Notification. 4. Notification No. 33/2020-Central Tax, dated 03.04.2020 Notification under section 128 of CGST Act for waiver of late fee for delay in furnishing the statement of outward supplies in FORM GSTR-1 for taxpayers for the tax p....
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....vailing the reduced rate of interest for the months of February, March and April, 2020, for a registered person whose aggregate turnover in the preceding financial year is above Rs. 5 Crore? 1. As clarified at sl.no. (2) above, the due date for furnishing the return remains unchanged; i.e. 20th day of the month succeeding such month. The rate of interest has been notified as Nil for first 15 days from the due date, and 9 per cent per annum thereafter, for the said months. 2. The reduced rate of interest is subject to the condition that the registered person must furnish the returns in FORM GSTR-3B on or before 24th day of June, 2020. 3. In case the returns in FORM GSTR-3B for the said months are not furnished on or before 24th day of June, 2020 then interest at 18% per annum shall be payable from the due date of return, till the date on which the return is filed. In addition, regular late fee shall also be leviable for such delay along with liability for penalty. 4. How to calculate the interest for late payment of tax for the months of February, March and April, 2020 for a registered person whose aggregate turnover in preceding financial year is above Rs. 5 Crore? ....
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....cknowledge that the GST regime of taxation is founded on the premise - ITC be provided on an assured basis, in every chain of transactions that any good or service may become part of in its journey of value addition, from the beginning till its consumption, by the end consumer. The tax regime under the Act allows for taxation to arise at each link of the value addition. To that extent, the GST regime is akin to the old (and obsolete) multi-point tax regime. However, its uniqueness lies in its evolution over the past indirect taxation regimes. Thus, the GST (amongst others) has rationalised the multi-point taxation method, by assuredly and effectively seeking to charge tax on net basis only, at every link of the value addition chain. To achieve that, it guarantees adjustment of ITC at every link of value addition - to offset the total tax liability arising at any level of value addition experienced, with ITC commensurate/proportionate to the tax already suffered at the immediately previous link of that value addition chain. It further enables payment of any outward tax due from the available ITC, bringing it at par with cash payment of tax due. Thus, it does away with one-to-one rec....
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....ct to other conditions. 44. Thus, unambiguously, the legislature has created a substantive right in favour of the recipient - to claim ITC. Further, it has enabled the recipient to avail ITC provisionally. It has been so held by the Supreme Court in Union of India Vs Bharti Airtel Ltd., (2022) 4 SCC 328 (pr.49). That is a substantive right created by the Act. It may be availed, even pending reconciliation and final payment of tax. By virtue of sub-Section (2) to Section 41, that ITC claim remains subject to reversal together with interest, where the due tax remains from being paid by the supplier. By way of conditions of eligibility to ITC, Section 16 of the Act has made it necessary that the Tax Invoice or Debit Note must be issued by the supplier to the registered person to enable the latter to avail ITC. Also, he must have physically received the goods or services, on which ITC claim may arise. As to the requirement of payment of due tax to the Government, that stipulation has been made subject to the provisions of Section 41of the Act. Read together with Rule 36 of the Rules, the legislature first created a margin of time, obviously involving liability to interest for delays....
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....e law were to be read otherwise, i.e., that the ITC claim may never arise unless the tax is first paid then, the second proviso to section 16(2) itself would be rendered otiose. 49. Therefore, the stipulations regarding furnishing of returns (together with their timelines) though mandatory, run parallel to the stipulations for claim, grant, and availing ITC. Yet, those two sets of stipulations of the Act do not create a pair of inflexible parallel rails of a railroad. Though largely parallel to the other, they co-exist within the permissible limits of elasticity created by the grant of provisional ITC. That necessary elasticity prevents the carriage of taxation from stalling and allows it to continue in motion without disrupting the journey of value addition being experienced by the goods and services. 50. In view of the above, though the date of filing of the details by the supplier would remain fixed as the 10th day of the following month, at the same time by way of principle it is difficult to acknowledge that ITC could be availed only with reference to that event. Here, it may be emphasized, again in Bharti Airtel Ltd. (supra) (pr.66) the nature of Form GSTR-2A has been r....
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....fit up to 10% of the eligible credit available with respect to the Tax Invoices and Debit Notes, details of which may have been fed by the respective suppliers on their GSTR-1 and therefore may have stood reflected on the GSTR-2A of the petitioner, on the respective due dates for the months of February to August 2020. In fact, those figures (month wise) have been extracted in the impugned order in the table, quoted above. Therefore, there is no dispute about the eligible amounts of ITC for the months February 2020 to August 2020, as were available and visible, on the respective due dates. 55. Also, admittedly, the return filed by the petitioner on Form GSTR 3B, for the month of September 2020 referred to and included therein the figure of total ITC claimed at Rs. 8,93,50,40,324.89/- with the monthly figures broken down and specified in the second column. It is also not in dispute that for the months of February to August 2020, the total of eligible credit as per GSTR-2A for the said months arising from GSTR-1 submitted by various suppliers as on the 10th of the following months was Rs. 7,12,21,36,567.80/-. The revenue has added 10% to each of those monthly figures to give effect....
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....led and availed at the time of monthly filing of GSTR 3B is provided below for your reference :- Particulars Amount in Rs. ITC reconciled (Feb-20 to Sep-20) (A) 8863460752.04 Eligible ITC in terms of Rule 36(4) (Feb-20 to Sep-20) (B- 110% of A) 9749806827.24 ITC Availed (Feb-20 to Sep-20) (C) 8935040325.05 58. The impugned order does not doubt the computation of ITC utilized at Rs. 8,86,34,60,752.04/- as mentioned by the petitioner in its reply dated 17.02.2021. Since emphasis has been laid to the fact that the petitioner had not set up a plea before the revenue authorities and such a case has not been set up before us, it is relevant to deal with that issue first. 59. As noted above, though specific reference has not been made to the first proviso to Rule 36(4) of the Rules, in its reply, the petitioner clearly mentioned the figure of ITC reconciled for the period February 2020 to September 2020. That figure was mentioned cumulatively at Rs. 8,86,34,60,752.04/- To that it has further claimed entitlement of 10% additional ITC leading to the figure of eligible ITC Rs. 9,74,98,06,827.24/-. In paragraph no.2 of that reply, it had been submitted as below: ....
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....have input tax credit in relation to invoices issued by the suppliers in previous financial years as well. The compliance in relation to such invoices by the supplier i.e. reporting in its periodic GSTR-1 return would have happened in previous financial year only. Thus, when compared, the GSTR-2A generated for the month in which the petitioner would have availed ITC in its GSTR-3B return would not match. 53. That even the GSTR-9 i.e. the Annual Return under GST Law provides for reporting of Input tax credit pertaining to previous financial year in the current financial year under column 8C, there by concluding the fact that input tax credit availed by the petitioner in a particular month in its GSTR-3B cannot be matched with the GSTR-2A generated for that particular month itself, rather the same has to be matched on cumulative basis to arrive at any conclusion." 61. In view of such pleadings made, both at the stage of furnishing of reply as also in the context of the dispute brought before us, it may not be right and in any case it may remain hyper technical to accept or acknowledge the objection being raised by the learned Additional Advocate General that such a case w....
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.... Advocate General, the CBIC itself remarked as below: "Amendment in the CGST Rules so as to allow taxpayers opting for the Composition Scheme for the financial year 2020-21 to file their option in FORM CMP-02 till 30th June, 2020 and to allow cumulative application of the condition in rule 36(4) for the months of February, 2020 to August, 2020 in the return for tax period of September, 2020." It may be noted that the same came to be issued at the time when the pandemic COVID-19 had hit our shores and various difficulties had arisen both with the taxpayers as well as with the revenue authorities. 66. Coming to the core issue of the language used, the proviso first contemplates that the condition prescribed under Rule 36(4) shall apply cumulatively. The word cumulative has not been defined under the Act or the Rules. However, plainly it conveys increase or addition to size (here quantum) with successive additions without corresponding losses (here deductions). It may be useful to refer to a few dictionary meanings given to the word 'cumulative'. In Oxford English Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, Revised, word 'cumulative' has been defined as under : cu....
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....dditional Advocate General, that date of filing of monthly returns was never extended. All that was done by means of subsequent Notifications was to waive/reduce late filing fee, interest, and penalty liabilities. On the contrary, the date of filing of monthly returns remained unchanged. 70. What the first proviso to Rule 36(4) of the Rules introduced was something different and new. Thus, for the tax period September 2020, the petitioner and all registered persons were permitted to file their monthly return on form GSTR-3B, with cumulative adjustment of ITC for the disputed period February 2020 to August 2020, by preserving to them the benefit arising under Rule 36(4) on the increased figure of eligible ITC, as it stood at the time of filing of return for the month of September 2020, on a cumulative basis. 71. Once the legislature introduced such a provision, no inherent logic exists or arises to restrict the application of the first proviso to Rule 36(4) of the Rules to the principle contained in the pre-existing Rule. Therefore, while Rule 36(4) may have made a provision to necessarily apply the computation of eligible ITC on a month-tomonth basis, at the same time, a cons....
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....ssolves the preexisting monthly partitions of tax periods from February 2020 to August 2020 and deems the entire period as one tax period for the limited purpose of applicability of Rule 36(4) of the Rules. 75. There is something in the period February 2020 to August 2020 for which the legislature relaxed the rigour of the law arising under Rule 36(4). That appears to be the sole purpose to introduce the first proviso to Rule 36(4). Therefore, the legislature relaxed the condition of the month-to-month reconciliation of the eligible ITC availed to a much longer period such that it allowed that period of one month to be practically enlarged to eight months. Hence it used the word "cumulatively" - to create a deeming fiction in law. 76. Thereby, though the requirement and date of filing the monthly returns etc., remained unaltered yet, for the purposes of computation of the ITC for those specified months, that period became (fictionally), a single block. The monthly boundaries that otherwise existed within that period were erased to allow the entire period to be seen as one. It is only to effect intended that the words "apply cumulatively" and "cumulative adjustment" have been ....
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....ith respect to the pre-existing law i.e., Rule 36(4). It lost its enforceability in facts covered by the first proviso to Rule 36(4) of the Rules. 82. Seen in that light, the pre-existing Circular conflicts with the amended statutory law. Therefore, though the Circular letter no. 113 dated 11.11.2019 was valid, it cannot be enforced contrary to the first proviso to Rule 36(4). It lost its efficacy and force and to that extent its relevance, for a limited period of February 2020 to August 2020. For that period, the law intervened and ruled otherwise. That is the plain effect in law caused by the first proviso to Rule 36(4). For the period to which the said proviso applies, the administrative instruction dated 11.11.2019 must survive in complete hibernation. Else, it may lose life to the higher statutory law. The revenue authorities have erred in relying on the said Circular letter to read a condition - "as on date of filing the return in GSTR-I, all the suppliers for the said tax period". For that period, the said condition otherwise enforceable in law [by virtue of the language of Rule 36(4)], stood absolutely relaxed. To the extent the Circular dated 11.11.2019 is contrary to t....