Gujarat HC: No Need for Certified Copy of GST Appeal Order When Accessible on Common Portal

The Gujarat High Court while quashing an order of the tax authority that rejected a GST Appeal due to non-submission of a certified copy has mentioned that when an appealed order is available on a common portal and could be accessed via the Appellate Authority then there must not be any requirement to submit a “certified copy” to confirm its genuineness.

Also, the court mentioned that in the existing age insistence on the certified copy of the orders which could be received via the website of the judicial and quasi-judicial bodies is “regressive in nature and puts a premium on needless archaism”.

The applicant submitted a plea contesting the order of the Joint Commissioner of State Tax, Rajkot. As of the failure of the applicant to provide the certified copy of the order in question, consequently, the plea was dismissed with Rule 108(3) of the GGST Rules, 2017.

During the filing as per rule 108(3) of GST Rules 2017, the submission of a certified copy of the order or decision appealed against within 7 days of filing the plea is mandated. If the certified copy was not provided in the same duration, the filing date of the appeal shall be regarded as the date of submission of the certified copy.

It was argued by the applicant that the pertinent statutes have been revised dated December 26, 2022, permitting the submission of the self-certified copies for the matters where the decision or order appealed against was not uploaded on the common portal. In the same matter, the order has been uploaded on the portal and hence as per the revised rule, a self-certified copy was adequate.

A Division Bench of Justice Bhargav Karia and Justice D.N. Ray in its October 30 order marked that the revision to Rule 108(3) with effect from December 26, 2022, modified the need to provide the certified copies. A certified copy is no longer needed under the revised rule where the order was available on the common portal. It was marked by the court that the same amendment was clarificatory in the nature and hence applied retrospectively.

It cited that it might be marked that when the order which is appealed against is furnished or uploaded on the common portal and it can be viewed by the Appellate Authority, no need would b there whatsoever of providing a certified copy of the these uploaded order to test its genuineness.

In the existing day and age, the insistence on the certified copy of the orders that can be received from the website of the judicial and quasi-judicial bodies is regressive in nature and puts a premium on unwanted archaism. The petition deserves to be permitted for such causes.

The court directed to the matter of Otsuka Pharmaceutical India Pvt. Ltd. vs Union of India and others (2024), of the Gujarat High Court which cited that the revision effective from December 26, 2022, is clarificatory in nature, it is to be applied retrospectively and the impugned order passed by the Appellate Authority rejecting the appeal would not prevail, in any case.

The amendment expresses, “Where the decision or order appealed against is uploaded on the common portal, a final acknowledgement, indicating appeal number shall be issued in FORM GST APL-02 by the Appellate Authority or an officer authorised by him in this behalf and the date of issue of the provisional acknowledgement shall be considered as the date of filing of appeal…Provided that where the decision or order appealed against is not uploaded on the common portal, the appellant shall submit a self-certified copy of the said decision or order within a period of seven days from the date of filing of FORM GST APL01 and a final acknowledgement, indicating appeal number, shall be issued in FORM GST APL-02 by the Appellate Authority…”

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Hence the court quashed and set aside the appellate authority order. The case was remanded back to the appellant authority to pass a new de novo order on the merits after furnishing a chance of hearing to the applicant.

It was mentioned by the court that it has proceeded into the merits of the matter, which the Appellate Authority decides as per the statute. The court disposed of the appeal and asked that the authority should decide and complete the practise within 12 weeks of obtaining a copy of the HC order.