Criticizing that the GST system is still running in a “trial and error phase”, the Delhi High Court has asked that Government to resolve the difficulties in filing TRAN-1 and directed to enable a facility of the trader/dealer being able to save onto his/her system the filled up form and also a facility for reviewing the form that has been filled up before its submission.
The petitioners submitted before the Court that the TRAN-1 filled by them on the GST portal does not reflect the amount claimed as a credit towards excise duty already paid.
The Counsel for the Petitioner points out that as of present the portal does not permit a registered trader/dealer to save on his/her system the filled up TRAN-1 or TRAN-2 form. According to him it does not even permit a print out of a filled up form. This makes it difficult for the trader/registered dealer to know whether the form has been correctly filled up.
On the other part, the Counsel for the department argued that a revision is possible, but only once in terms of Rule 120 A. it was submitted that despite the Petitioner having availed of the facility of revision, the TRAN-1 form still does not reflect the credit amount.
The bench comprising Justice S Muralidhar and Justice I S Mehta noted that the issue is about the technical glitch in the system which does not permit a rectification in a situation where a dealer may have, due to inadvertence, or a bonafide error, not correctly filled up a form or where the system, due to a limitation in the algorithm/software programme, does not accept the entries sought to be made by the dealer.
“The GST system is still in a “trial and error phase” as far as its implementation is concerned. Ever since the date the GSTN became operational, this Court has been approached by dealers facing genuine difficulties in filing returns, claiming input tax credit through the GST portal.”
It was also observed that the Petitioner’s difficulty in filling up a correct credit amount in the TRAN-1 form is a genuine one which should not preclude him from having his claim examined by the authorities in accordance with the law.
“A direction is accordingly issued to the Respondents to either open the portal so as to enable the Petitioner to again file TRAN-1 electronically or to accept a manually filed TRAN-1 on or before 31st May 2019. The Petitioner’s claims will thereafter be processed in accordance with the law,” the bench said.
Before concluding, the bench pointed out that “With a view to ensure that in future such glitches can be overcome, the Court directs the Respondents to consider providing in the software itself a facility of the trader/dealer being able to save onto his/her system the filled up form and also a facility for reviewing the form that has been filled up before its submission. It should also permit the dealer to print out the filled up form which will contain the date/time of its submission online. The Respondents will also consider whether there can be a message that pops up by way of an acknowledgement that the Form with the credit claimed has been correctly uploaded.”
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