Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017 – Refund -- The Petitioner challenged the order dated 31 May 2022 rejecting the claim of the Petitioners for refund due to account of Input Tax Credit accumulated due to inverted duty structure. The Petitioner submitted that they were not given any opportunity as required under the Rules nor any notice was given to them.  The court observed that Rule 92  lays down the methodology for processing the application. Rule 92 (3) contains proviso that no application for refund shall be rejected without giving the Applicant an opportunity of being heard. The court observed that the notice was neither received by the Petitioners nor it was made available on GSTN portal, it will have to be held that the opportunity of hearing to the Petitioners as envisaged under Rule 92 of the Rules was impaired.

Held that:- The Hon’ble Court set aside the impugned order and restored the application of the Petitioner directing the Respondents to follow methodology under Rule 92, within a period of 8 weeks.