The Delhi High Court while giving relief to as many as 24 petitioners directed the GST Authority to re-open the online portal to enable petitioner to file Form TRAN-1 electronically by 30th June 2021.
The common thread in as many as 24 petitions pertains to the transition of CENVAT credit from the erstwhile indirect tax regime to the present GST system by virtue of a right specifically conferred on the taxpayers for smooth migration into the new indirect tax regime.
The Petitioners had a stock on which the Petitioner was entitled to Excise Duty credit as per the proviso to Section 140(3) of the Act. The Petitioner could not upload the TRAN-1 Form after various attempts due to heavy traffic on the GSTIN portal. Thus, in order to claim the benefit of the excise duty against the stocks held for the period ending on 30th June 2017, the Petitioner sought to manually file the TRAN-1 Form. This is evidenced by the communication placed on record dated 27th December 2017 to the writ petition. This communication was followed up by a reminder dated 4th February 2018 written to the VATO, then followed by further communications written to the Jurisdictional/Nodal Officer, SGST/CGST. After the amendment to Rule 117, the Petitioner approached the authority thereunder in terms of sub-Rule (1A) of Rule 117 but, it was to no avail.
In response to the grievance, the Respondents, per contra, contend that CENVAT credit is not an absolute or vested right but a creation of statute, and can only be availed of within the boundaries of the statute and not de hors it. It was further argued that a rule fixing a time limit does not amount to taking away any vested right.
The division bench of Justice Sanjeev Narula and Justice Manmohan noted that all such Petitioners have genuinely attempted to file TRAN-1 Form within time and have also taken care to preserve some evidence which is now being relied upon in support of their contention. This proof of submission however has not been accepted by the Respondents. The stand of the Respondent is that in such matters there is no technical anomaly in filing the TRAN-1 Form on the GST portal.
“Respondents are directed to either re-open the online portal so as to enable the Petitioners to file TRAN-1 Form electronically or to accept the same manually on or before 30th June 2021. The Respondents shall process the Petitioners’ claims in accordance with the law once the TRAN-1 Form is filed,” the Court said.
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