Section 54 of the CGST Act— Refund by SEZ unit -– The petitioner prayed for directing the respondents to grant refund of unutilized IGST credit lying in Electronic Credit Ledger and for directing the respondents that in case there is no rule for SEZ refund then rule(s) for granting refund of unutilized IGST credit lying in Electronic Credit Ledger be framed to bring parity in refund under section 54 for all inverted tax structure suppliers. The petitioner is situated in SEZ, filed an application for refund in Form GST RFD-01A with regard to the credit of IGST distributed by ISD for the services pertaining to the SEZ unit. The petitioner submitted that being a SEZ unit making zero rated supplies, the petitioner was not able to utilize the credit of the ITC of IGST from its ISD and it was lying unutilized. The respondent rejected the application in the ground that the Petitioner is situated in SEZ and as per the CGST the supply of Goods and/or Services to SEZ unit is Zero rated hence are not eligible for refund under section 54.
Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court allowed the petition and held that in view of the decision in case of M/s. Amit Cotton Industries (supra), [2019] 13 TAXLOK.COM 063 (Gujarat), the petitioner is entitled to claim refund of the IGST lying in the Electronic Credit Ledger as there is no specific supplier who can claim the refund. The Court set aside the order and directed the respondents to process the claim of refund made by the petitioner for unutilized IGST credit lying in Electronic Credit Ledger under section 54 of the Act, within three months.—Britannia Industries Limited Vs. Union of India [2020] 22 TAXLOK.COM 151 (Gujarat)