Appeal to High Court [ Section 117 ] - GST Ready Reckoner - GST

Appeal to High Court As per Section 117(1) Admitted in case of substantial question of law (i) The High Court may admit an appeal if it is satisfied that the case involves a substantial question of law Appeals against order passed by the State Bench (ii) No appeal shall lie before a High Court if such order is passed by National Bench or Regional Benches. In other words, appeal shall be filed before High Court if such order is passed by State benches of the Appellate Tribunal. As per section 117(2) Time limit for filing appeal is 180 days of order (iii) Appeal has to be filed in the Form GST APL 08, precisely stating the substantial question of law involved, within 180 days from the date of receipt of order appealed against accompanied by prescribed fee. (iv) The High Court is empowered to condone the delay in filing appeal. As per section 117(3) Onus of proof lies upon Respondent to prove question of law (v) On being satisfied, High Court shall formulate a substantial question of law. (vi) Appeal to be heard only on the question so formulated and the respondent shall be allowed to argue that the case does not involve such question. (vii) The High Court may hear the appeal on any other substantial question of law not formulated by it after satisfying, for reasons to be recorded, of involvement of such question in the case. As Per section 117(5) Issues to be determined by high court (viii) The High Court may determine any issue which has not been determined or has been wrongly determined by the State Benches by reason of a decision on such question of law as herein referred to in section 117(3). As Per Section 117(6) (7) Appeal to be heard by bench majority opinion prevails (ix) Appeal to be heard by a Bench of not less than 2 Judges of High Court and shall be decided in accordance with the majority of opinion of such Judges (x) Difference of opinion on any point shall be referred to one or more of the other Judges of High Court and such point shall be decided according to the opinion of majority of Judges who have heard the case including those who first heard it. As Per section 117 (8) (9) Provisions of civil court prevails in case of appeal to high court (xi) The effect of judgment of High Court shall be given on the basis of a certified copy of the judgment. (xii) The provisions of Code of Civil Procedure relating to appeals to High Court shall apply to appeals under this section. (xiii) Revision petition under section 114 is NOT the same as judicial review under article 226/227 before the High Court. Procedure For appeal (Rule 114 of CGST Rules ) An appeal to the High Court shall be filed in FORM GST APL-08 . The grounds of appeal and the form of verification as contained in FORM GST APL-08 shall be signed in the manner specified in rule 26 . Summary : Appeals against order passed by the State Bench of the Appellate Tribunal or it s branches may be filed before the jurisdictional High Court. However High Court may admit such appeal only if it is satisfied that the case involves a substantial question of law and thereupon such question of law should be formulated.