Brief Facts
The Revenue authorities instituted recovery proceedings and recovered the entire amount of demand within three months from the date of order of the first appellate authority (which had ruled in favour of the Revenue). It appears such recovery was on the strength of a subsisting provisional attachment.
However, the assessee had the right to appeal before the Appellate Tribunal within the limitation period of three months, upon payment of 20% of disputed tax liability. [ref: Section 112(8) of the CGST Act]
Author's Comments
Section 83 ibid permits provisional attachment only during pendency of any proceedings under Sections 62, 63, 64, 67, 73 or 74 ibid. However, in the instant case, Order-in-Appeal has been passed.
When the pre-deposit is paid, recovery proceeding for the balance amount is deemed to be stayed till the disposal of appeal [ref: Section 112(9) ibid]. Although the Tribunal is yet to be constituted under the GST law, assessee proceeding on appeal should make use of this safeguard to avoid recovery proceeding from revenue authorities.
