Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017 — Refund – Personal Hearing -- The petitioner challenged rejection of claim of refund of the petitioner, on account of unutilized ITC under Section 54(3). The respondent vide common order dated 22.10.2019, has rejected such claim on the ground that petitioner had not submitted the required documents in hard copies for verification. The counsel for the petitioner submitted that as per Rule 92(3), no application for refund shall be rejected without giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard. The court observed that an application for refund shall not be rejected without giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard. Therefore, there is a clear legal mandate that if an application for refund is to be rejected, the same can only be done after giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard. The court relied on the decision of BA CONTINUUM INDIA (P) LIMITED, wherein the Bombay High Court had elaborately dealt with the aforesaid provisions.  

Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court set aside the impugned memo dated 05.03.2019 and letter dated 13.09.2019 and directed the respondent to hear afresh applications of the petitioner for refund within a period of two months.