GST Rulings

GST | When should a Writ Petition be Filed before the Jurisdictional High Court?

If any person is aggrieved by any decision / order passed by an adjudicating authority, he can appeal to the Appellate Authority vide Section 107(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017. Such decision / order may be passed under the CGST Act / SGST Act / UTGST Act (or even IGST Act by virtue of Section 20 therein).

Instead, there are many instances where the assessee approaches the jurisdictional High Court by filing a writ petition (under Article 226 of the Constitution of India).

The Supreme Court observed[1] that mere existence of a statutory / alternate remedy would not jeopardise the maintainability of a writ petition under Article 226 ibid. A writ petition can be entertained under exceptional circumstances like:

Breach of fundamental rights;
Violation of principles of natural justice;
Excess of jurisdiction; and
Challenge to the vires of the statute or delegated legislation.

In the instant case, a notice was served by the Department for the alleged non-compliance. Consequently, there was no violation of principles of natural justice. Similarly, no other exceptions stated supra could be established.

[1] Civil Appeal No. 5121 of 2021 dated September 03, 2021

Srinivasan V, Advocate