Section 16 of the IGST Act, 2017 –– Refund —- The petitioner sought directions to the respondent to sanction a sum of Rs.24,72,018/- as refund on the exports made by them during July, 2017, September, 2017 and October, 2017. The counsel for the petitioner submits that the outward supplies ie., exports would have qualified as a zero rated supply and therefore, the petitioner should have filled the details in Form GSTR-3B in column 3.1 (b). Instead, the petitioner by mistake has given the details of the export as outward taxable supply (other than zero rated, nil rated and exempted). He placed reliance on the circular No.45/19/2018-GST, dated 30.05.2018 issued by the CBIC. The counsel for the respondent submitted that the refund would be granted subject to the petitioner giving the correct informations in the returns, namely GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B. The court observed that the procedures under Rule 96 of CGST Rules, 2017 cannot be applied strictly to deny legitimate export incentives that are available to an exporter.

Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court directed the respondent to get the data directly from the petitioner and from their counterparts in the customs department. If indeed there was an export and a valid debit of tax by the petitioner on the exports made to foreign buyers, the refund shall be granted.