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TMI Blog2025 (4) TMI 340X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the quantum of duty for the benefit of the Revenue. They must act reasonably and fairly." 1. The aforesaid statement of law rendered by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in the matter of Unichem Laboratories Ltd. v. Collector of Central Excise, Bombay (2002) 7 SCC 145 squarely applies to the facts of the present case, as in this case also, the writ petitioner was denied the benefit of filing the revised FORM GST TRAN-1 unfairly. 2. Invoking the writ appellate jurisdiction of this Court under Section 2 (1) of the Chhattisgarh High Court (Appeal to Division Bench) Act, 2006, the Union of India / appellants herein / respondents No. 1, 2, 3 & 5 of the writ petition have preferred this writ appeal calling in question legality, validity and correctness of judgment & order dated 28-11-2022 passed by the writ court in W.P.(T) No. 252/2022, by which the learned Single Judge has directed respondents No. 1, 2 & 5 therein to open the portal so far as the writ petitioner is concerned for once and further directed to ensure that proper steps are taken on or before 30-11-2022 to submit the revised FORM GST TRAN-1. (For the sake of convenience, parties would be referred as per thei ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rms for availing transitional credit through TRAN-1 and TRAN-2 for a period of two months i.e. with effect from 1-9-2022 to 31-10-2022 and enabled the registered assessee to file relevant forms or already revised forms irrespective of the fact that the tax payer has filed writ petition or not and further directed the GST authorities to ensure that there is no technical glitch during the said period and that period was ultimately extended on 2-9-2022 for effectively making the last date of filing of return as 30-11-2022 by the Supreme Court by its order dated 2-9-2022. Consequently, on 9-9-2022 vide Annexure P-3, Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, GST Policy Wing, also issued guidelines for filing/revising TRAN-1/ TRAN-2 in terms of orders dated 22-7-2022 & 2-9-2022 of the Supreme Court. 5. It is the case of the writ petitioner / respondent No. 1 herein that the Tax Consultant engaged by it while opening and making entries in TRAN-1 portal, qua the writ petitioner, instead of entering eligible CENVAT credit amount has mistakenly entered NIL in Form TRAN-1 and pressed the submit button upon which immediately ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e clicking submit button one must ensure the correctness of figures as no editing option will be available once the submit button is clicked, the writ petitioner should have gone through the said circular and should have been very cautious before filing/submitting the TRAN-1 Form, but they took it very casually and submitted the Form very carelessly without any figure in it, and in that case, the approach of the assessee before this Court is not maintainable and if the portal is made open for each one like this, it will be an endless and never ending process and as such, the order of the learned Single Judge deserves to be set-aside and the writ appeal deserves to be allowed. 8. Mr. Hari Agrawal, learned counsel appearing for the registered assessee / writ petitioner / respondent No. 1 herein, would submit that the registered assessee's right of accumulated CENVAT credit, which is a constitutional right under Article 300A of the Constitution of India, cannot be taken away merely by way of a circular dated 9-9-2022 contrary to the direction made by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in Filco Trade Centre Private Limited (supra) and as such, the writ appeal deserves to be dismisse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Considering the judgments of the High Courts on the then prevailing peculiar circumstances, any aggrieved registered assessee is directed to file the relevant form or revise the already filed form irrespective of whether the taxpayer has filed writ petition before the High Court or whether the case of the taxpayer has been decided by Information Technology Grievance Redressal Committee ("ITGRC"). 1.3. GSTN has to ensure that there are no technical glitch during the said time. 1.4. The officers concerned are given 90 days thereafter to verify the veracity of the claim/transitional credit and pass appropriate orders thereon on merits after granting appropriate reasonable opportunity to the parties concerned. 1.5. Thereafter, the allowed transitional credit is to be reflected in the electronic credit ledger. 1.6. If required GST Council may also issue appropriate guidelines to the field formations in scrutinising the claims." 15. The writ petitioner approached the writ court prior to the period indicated by the order of the Supreme Court i.e. 30-11-2022 by filing writ petition on 11-11-2022 and upon pleadings having been completed, the learned Single Judge considered th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le product. There is no provision in the rules which provides for a reversal of the credit by the Excise Authorities except where it has been illegally or irregularly taken, in which event it stands cancelled or, if utilised, has to be paid for. We are here really concerned with credit that has been validly taken, and its benefit is available to the manufacturer without any limitation in time or otherwise unless the manufacturer itself chooses not to use the raw material in its excisable product. The credit is, therefore, indefeasible. ..." 17. At this stage, circular dated 9-9-2022 issued by Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, GST Policy Wing, may be noticed herein upon which great emphasis has been laid by the learned Deputy Solicitor General of India during the course of submission. Paragraphs 4.6.1 & 4.6.2 of the circular state as under:- "4.6.1 In this regard, it is clarified that the applicant can edit the details in FORM TRAN-1/TRAN-2 on the common portal only before clicking the "Submit" button on the portal. The applicant is allowed to modify/edit, add or delete any record in any of the table of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e property is no longer a fundamental right but it is still a constitutional right. Cenvat credit earned under the erstwhile Central excise law is the property of the writ applicants and it cannot be appropriated for merely failing to file a declaration in the absence of law in this respect. It could have been appropriated by the Government by providing for the same in the CGST Act but it cannot be taken away by virtue of merely framing Rules in this regard." 20. Coming to the facts of the present case, although the writ petitioner committed blunder in filing Form TRAN-1, but as per the writ petitioner, huge sum of money was credited in his account and same was found lying unutilized in the last return filed by it for the month of June, 2017. As held by the Supreme Court in Unichem Laboratories Ltd. (supra), it is not the duty of the Revenue to deprive an assessee of the benefit available to him in law and for which he was otherwise eligible and is legitimately available to him and the authorities functioning under the Act are required to act reasonably and fairly. The circular issued under Section 168A of the Central GST Act would not come in way of the assessee to revise its For ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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