Section 112 of the CGST Act, 2017 — Appeal before the Appellate Tribunal  –-- The petitioner challenged the Order-in- Appeal, whereby the appeals were dismissed and challenged Section 112 of the Act. The court observed that as clarified in the Circular dated 26 May 2020, the time to file appeals/application to the Appellate Tribunal would be counted from the date the President or the State President enters the office. It is stated in Clause 5 of the Circular that a declaration in Annexure-I has to be filed before the jurisdictional tax officer stating that an appeal is proposed to be filed. If such declaration is not filed, then it would be presumed that taxpayer is not willing to file an appeal and recovery proceedings would be initiated. The Petitioners have already filed such a declaration under Clause 4.3 of the Circular. If the Petitioners have not filed declarations, they are permitted to submit the same within 15 days. The prescribed time limit has been extended as per Clause 4.3 and protective orders are incorporated in Clause 5 of the Circular.

Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court directed that the Respondent State will consider two measures to reduce the inflow of writ petitions in this Court due to non-constitution of the GST Tribunal. First, to incorporate a stipulation contained in Clause 4.3 and Clause 5 of the Trade Circular dated 26 May 2020 in the order passed by the First Appellate Authority. This will put the tax payer to notice that the time limit for filing the appeal is extended and if a declaration is filed in terms of Annexure-I within the stipulated period, the protective measure would automatically come into force. Second, if recovery is being undertaken in terms of Clause 5 for failure to file a declaration within the time limit, by way of indulgence, to give 15 days period to make such a declaration. These two measures will substantially reduce the litigation which has arisen due to the non-constitution of the GST Tribunal.