Orissa High Court Directs CBIC To Permit Filing Of TRAN-1 Form Electronically Or Manually

Orissa High Court Directs CBIC To Permit Filing Of TRAN-1 Form Electronically Or Manually

The Orissa High Court directed the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to permit the Assessee to file TRAN-1 form electronically or accept the TRAN-1 form manually.

The matter titled M/s. Sunny Motors v. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), was placed before the Division Bench of the High Court of Orissa, comprising Chief Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar and Justice B.P. Routray.

The Petitioner – Assessee being in the business for sale and trade of motorcycles, scooters, spare parts through this writ petition had sought to direct the Respondent – CBIC to accept the Petitioner's GST-TRAN-1 form in terms of Rule 117 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (CGST Rules) and to further allow the Petitioner's claim of Input Tax Credit (ITC). It was the case of the Petitioner that he was unable to upload the GST TRAN-1 form on account of 'some unavoidable and unforeseen circumstances' and therefore, he had filed the present petition.

The Court perused the Rule 117 of CGST Rules which stated that only a registered person was entitled to get credit of input tax u/S. 140 of the CGST Act, if such person, within 90 days from the appointed day, submitted a declaration electronically in the Form GST TRAN-1, duly signed, on the common portal specifying therein, separately, the ITC amount to which the person was entitled.

The Court noted that the Petitioner had a registration certificate under the Goods and Services Tax Rules of Odisha and it further considered multiple judgments wherein the TRAN-1 form was allowed to be submitted either electronically or manually.

Relying on the judgments, the Court directed the Respondent – CBIC to either open the portal and permit the Petitioner to file TRAN-1 form electronically or to accept the Petitioner's TRAN-1 form manually.