Date of online filing is considered as the date of filing appeal when order appealed against uploaded on the common portal

The Hon'ble High Court of Madras in the case of Sunbeam Generators (P.) Ltd. v. Additional Commissioner (Appeals-I) [Writ Petition No. 16140 of 2024 dated July 02, 2024] remanded the matter for disposal on merits and allowed the writ petition. The Court held that the date of online filing is considered as the date of filing appeal when order appealed against uploaded on the common portal.

Facts:

M/s Sunbeam Generators (P.) Ltd. ("the Petitioner") had applied for refund under Section 54 of the CGST Act. The Application was rejected vide Order dated April 13, 2022. Therefore, the Petitioner carried an appeal before the appellate authority by presenting such appeal online on June 28, 2022.

However, time for appeal was up to July 12, 2022. The appeal was submitted on May 23, 2023 and was rejected vide Order dated January 24, 2024 ("the Impugned Order").

The Petitioner contended that the appeal was filed within time limit. The appeal was filed in Form GST APL-01 through the online mode on the GST portal on June 28, 2022.

The Additional Commissioner ("the Respondent") submitted that the date of issuance of provisional acknowledgment shall be considered as the date of filing of the appeal only if the order appealed against was uploaded on the common portal.

Hence, aggrieved by the Impugned Order, the Petitioner filed the present writ petition.

Issue:

Whether the date of online filing considered as date of filing appeal when order appealed against uploaded on common portal?

Held:

The Hon'ble High Court of Madras in Writ Petition No. 16140 of 2024 held as under:

· Noted that, as per Rule 108(3) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 ("the CGST Rules") indicates that the requirement of filing a self-certified copy of the order appealed against becomes applicable, as per the first proviso thereto, only where the order appealed against is not uploaded on the common portal. In the case at hand, the order was duly uploaded on the common portal. In such event, the date of online filing is the date of filing of the appeal. Even otherwise, the filing of a hard copy is a purely procedural requirement. Consequently, the Impugned Order is not sustainable and hence, was set aside.

Our Comments:

Rule 108 of the CGST Rules governs "Appeal to the Appellate Authority". Rule 108 (3) of the CGST Rules was substituted vide Notification No. 26/ 2022- Central Tax dated December 26, 2022 and states that where the decision or order appealed against is uploaded on the common portal, a final acknowledgment, indicating appeal number, shall be issued in FORM GST APL-02 by the Appellate Authority or an officer authorised by him in this behalf and the date of issue of the provisional acknowledgment shall be considered as the date of filing of appeal:

However, where the decision or order appealed against is not uploaded on the common portal, the appellant shall submit a self-certified copy of the said decision or order within a period of seven days from the date of filing of FORM GST APL-01 and a final acknowledgment, indicating appeal number, shall be issued in FORM GST APL-02 by the Appellate Authority or an officer authorised by him in this behalf, and the date of issue of the provisional acknowledgment shall be considered as the date of filing of appeal:

Further, where the said self-certified copy of the decision or order is not submitted within a period of seven days from the date of filing of FORM GST APL-01, the date of submission of such copy shall be considered as the date of filing of appeal.

In pari materia case of M/s Kasturi & Sons Pvt. Ltd. v. Additional Commissioner of GST & Central Excise (Appeals-1) [W.P. No. 18642 of 2024 dated July 10, 2024], the Hon'ble High Court of Madrasnoted that the requirement of filing a self-certified copy of the order appealed against becomes applicable, as per the first proviso thereto, only where the order appealed against is not uploaded on the common portal. In the case at hand, the order was duly uploaded on the common portal. In such event, the date of online filing is the date of filing of the appeal. Even otherwise, the filing of a hard copy is a purely procedural requirement. Consequently, the impugned order is not sustainable.

OFFICIAL JUDGMENT COPY HAS BEEN ATTACHED