Appellant can remit the amount of pre-deposit from attached bank accounts for filing an appeal

The Tripura High Court has ruled that a taxpayer can remit the required pre-deposit amount for filing an appeal from their attached bank accounts. This decision allows individuals, like the petitioner Kamrul Nahar, to access funds necessary for their appeal, even when bank accounts are frozen due to recovery proceedings. The court directed the bank to permit this remittance, enabling the taxpayer to file their appeal by the stipulated deadline.

The Hon'ble Tripura High Court in the case ofKamrul Nahar v. Union of India [Writ Petition (Civil) No. 253/2023 dated January 03, 2024], directed the bank to permit the Petitioner to remit amount of pre-deposit as required in terms of Notification No. 53/2023 dated November 04, 2023("the Notification") from attached bank accounts to enable the Petitioner to file appeal within cut-off date.

Facts

Kamrul Nahar ("the Petitioner")did not invoke the appellate remedy under Section 107(1) of the Central Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 ("the CGST Act") within the stipulated time. He approached this Court straightaway after the expiration of the limitation period. 

Though the Petitioner took several grounds on facts and laws including the ground of non-compliance of principles of natural justice and the procedure prescribed under Section 73(1) of the CGST Act, the Revenue Department ("the Respondent")objected to the maintainability of the petition, on the basis of the judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of Assistant Commissioner (CT) LTU & Ors. v. Glaxo Smith Kline Consumer Health Care Ltd.[(2020) 19 SCC 681].

Meanwhile, the Finance Department Government of Tripura recognised the challenges faced by the taxpayers and issued the Notification, allowing a window of opportunity for individuals unable to file appeals against orders passed on or before March 31, 2023, under Sections 73 or 74 of the Tripura State Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 ("the TSGST Act")within the time period specified under section 107(1) read with sub-section (4) of the TSGST Act subject to the conditions stipulated thereunder. This window of opportunity is also available to such taxable persons whose appeal was rejected solely on the grounds that it was not filed within the time period specified in Section 107 of the CGST Act. 

The Petitioner faced a challenge as all of their bank accounts had been attached in recovery proceedings under Section 79 of the TSGST Act. This situation further hindered the Petitioner's ability to approach the appellate authority against the Orders passed within the prescribed time frame.

Hence, aggrieved by the circumstances, the Petitioner has filed the present writ petition. 

Issue

Whether the Appellant can remit the amount of pre-deposit from attached bank accounts for filing an appeal?

Held

The Hon'ble Tripura High Court in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 253/2023 held as under:

• Observed that, the Court is not required to enter into the issues of fact or law raised by the Petitioner, as the Petitioner has the liberty to invoke the appellate remedy under section 107(1) of the CGST Act by the cut-off date January 31, 2024 in terms of the Notification.
• Held that, the bank accounts of the Petitioner have been attached in recovery proceedings. Therefore, in order to allow the Petitioner to effectively avail the remedy of appeal as provided under the Notification, the Court directed the Branch Manager, ICICI Bank, Bishalgarh Branch to permit the Petitioner to remit the amount of pre-deposit as required in terms of the Notification from the attached bank accounts on such application being made through the permissible mode for preferring the appeal within the cut-off date January 31, 2024. If such an appeal is filed upon compliance with the conditions stipulated in the Notification, the appellate authority would consider the appeal in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of twelve weeks from the date of filing of the appeal.

Our Comments

Section 107 of the CGST Act talks about "Appeals to Appellate Authority". According to Section 107 (6) (b) of the CGST Act, no appeal shall be filed under sub-section (1) of Section 107 of the CGST Act, unless the appellant has paid a sum equal to ten per cent of the remaining amount of tax in dispute arising from the said order, subject to a maximum of twenty-five crore rupees, in relation to which the appeal has been filed.