2025 (8) TMI 791

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....ions) COMMON ORDER S. M. SUBRAMANIAM, J. The constitutional validity of the provisions of Section 16(2)(c) and Rule 36(4) of Goods and Service Tax Act and Rules, 2017 is challenged before the Kerala High Court in the case of Nahasshukoor Vs. Assistant Commissioner, State GST Department Alappuzha. The Division Bench of Kerala High Court considered the issues and dismissed the Writ Appeal and the judgment is reported in (2023) 13 Centax 316 (Ker.). The relevant portion of the judgment is extracted hereunder:- "9. The appellants also challenged the constitutional validity of section 16(2)(c) of the CGST Act and rule 36(4) of the CGST Rules. It is contended that those provisions are violative of Article 14 of the Constitution ....

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....fit/concession following those conditions. The prescription of the conditions cannot be considered discriminatory to contravene Article 14. So far as the second point urged by the appellants is concerned, it is settled that legislation or provision in a statute cannot be challenged only on the grounds of arbitrariness or unreasonableness. Manifest arbitrariness must be established to strike down a provision in the statute as violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. The test to determine manifest arbitrariness is whether the enactment is drastically unreasonable, capricious, irrational, or without adequate determining principle (See Shayara Bano v Union of India [(2017) 9 SCC 11). Nothing indicates that the impugned provisions satisfy th....

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....e to pay tax on the output supply was engaged in Zero Rated Supply within the meaning of the respective GST enactments including Integrated Goods and Service Tax and the Rules made thereunder. 103. That apart, the restrictions are reasonable and since they are intended to implement the laudable object of allowing legitimate / eligible Input Tax Credit (ITC). Therefore, the challenge to the restrictions imposed under Rule 36(4) of the respective GST Rules on the ground of it being arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India cannot be countenanced. As such, these Writ Petitions are liable to be dismissed. 104. In any event, as mentioned above, the temporary deprivation of full Input Tax Credit (ITC) ha....