TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
Is the Assistant Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise not bound by CBIC Circular?.
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....s the Assistant Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise not bound by CBIC Circular?.<br>By: - K Balasubramanian<br>Goods and Services Tax - GST<br>Dated:- 5-10-2026<br>During the last two months August 2026 and September 2026, more and more orders were pronounced by the GSTAT, High Courts as well as the Supreme Court paving way for reasoned orders at adjudication as well as first appeal levels. Th....
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....e orders passed by the GSTAT are binding on all State as well as Central officials as the design of GST law itself is one nation, one tax. Only in order to avoid frivolous appeals by Revenue, CBIC has set monetary limits (with certain exceptions) for preferring the appeal by Revenue before GSTAT, High Court as well as Supreme Court which have the approval of competent authority from the Ministry o....
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....f Finance. The limits are contained in CBIC Circular dated 26/06/2024 which has set the limits as below. Appellate Forum Monetary Limit (amount involved in Rs) GSTAT 20,00,000 High Court 1,00,00,000 Supreme Court 2,00,00,000 In an interesting case which came before GSTAT Bench on 29/09/2026, it is noticed that relief granted at first appeal level under Section 128A wa....
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....s disputed on procedural non -compliance ground and a small penalty of Rs. 22,155, the appeal was preferred by Revenue despite the binding CBIC Circular No. 207/1/2024-GST, dated 26th June 2024. The case pertains to the show cause notice dated 26/12/2023 involving GST. The demanded GST was paid along with interest, though by way of proper procedure under Section 128A, interest could have been avoi....
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....ded. The taxpayer went on first appeal and the penalty amount of Rs. 22,155 was set aside by the first appellate authority. The division bench of GSTAT, Surat has passed a detailed order on 29/09/2026 in the matter of APL/61/SRT/2026, The Assistant Commissioner of CGST & Central Excise, Division-XI, Ankleshwar, Vadodara-II Commissionerat...Appellant Versus Rutu Chemicals, GSTIN: 24ANRP....
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....P2107P2ZI Plot No.2924/2, GIDC Indl Estate, Panoli, Bharuch, Gujarat, 394116 .............Respondent. The operative portion reads as "11.5. The circular has a beneficial and constructive purpose. It should be implemented in its true spirit. Prudence has to be exercised while invoking the phrase "any other issue". Where, similar to the issues such as valuation, classification etc., "any ot....
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....her issue" also has a wider implication and a substantial impact on revenue, pursuing the litigation further could be justified. Otherwise, the department has no compulsion to litigate every case disregarding its impact on revenue. An appeal should be filed only if either the amount involved crosses the stipulated threshold, or if the issue has sufficient impact on revenue interests. A safeguar....
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....d is already built into Section 120 itself, in that non-filing of appeals in observance of the orders contained in the circular would not amount to acquiescence in the decision on the disputed issue. The Circular also clarifies at para 6 that "in cases where it is decided not to file appeal in pursuance of these instructions, such cases shall not have any precedent value". 11.6. On the facts of....
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.... the case, we do not find that the question posed by the department has any genuine recurring or cascading implication". The appeal was accordingly dismissed as not maintainable. Key take aways: Taxpayers and Tax Professionals must be aware of the above monetary limits which are squarely binding on the Revenue. As and when any appeal preferred by Revenue is less than the prescribed limit, this ....
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....should be the first line of argument. For Tax Officials: Prior to setting up of the GSTAT, thousands of orders were passed by tax officials in gross violation of the law itself which were forced to reach the jurisdictional High Courts by way of writs under Article 226. However, as on date as GSTAT is operation all over India, the writs have come down and currently only the earlier writs filed a....
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....re either disposed on merits or are remanded to respective level of Adjudication or First Appeal or Second Appeal as the case may be. Under these circumstances, preferring an appeal for a disputed penalty of Rs. 22,155 is not to be taken lightly by the CBIC. Probably, the limit at 20 Lakhs was fixed keeping this officer in mind and the officer is not bothered to adhere to the CBIC Circular itself.....
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.... It is high time that CBIC may issue one more circular elaborately to ensure that as and when any appeal is preferred which are less than the monetary limits, due approval is required at a high level, may be member, GST. Two tips for replying SCN. In case section 74 is improperly invoked, the first line of argument should be based on Supreme Court orders during August 2026 in the matters of Tat....
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....a Steel as well as G R Infra Projects cases. On all other issues, the index of the e journal of GSTAT gives details from where applicable case laws may be easily identified. It also facilitates to copy the desired portion of the order for inclusion in the reply to the show cause notice. Before parting: Around 287 orders have been passed so far by the various benches of the GSTAT. All orders pas....
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....sed by the GSTAT up to 31/08/2026 are already posted in https://www.gstat.gov.in/uploads/e_journals/gstat%20e_journal.pdf which the readers may kindly take advantageous. Times are changing and good time has already started to taxpayer. By referring to the above website of GSTAT on a monthly basis, we shall be getting the recent and most updated case laws for which a team of young researchers is wo....
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....rking at the GSTAT. They deserve lot of appreciation for the work done so far as well as for all future updates. It is now for the taxpayers as well as the tax professionals to take full advantage that is arising out of the tremendous hard work of the team GSTAT. =============<br> Scholarly articles for knowledge sharing by authors, experts, professionals ....