Bombay HC Orders Govt to Nominate Authentic Dept for IGST Refund

The department has been rendered by the Bombay high court to decide who would have the proper leader to decide on the IGST refund.

The GST head is the proper officer that can process the refund claims as asked by the heads of customs, the division bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar, and Justice Abhay Ahuja noted while the Goods and Services Taxes (GST) heads claim that the same is the customs officer.

The court ordered both authorities to consult with one another and submit a joint note; if they failed to do so, the police were ordered to remain in court.

The assessee/petitioner is an exporter. It submitted a claim for an IGST refund by submitting the shipping bill. Customs did not handle the refund claim. It made contact with the local GST officials. No action was taken on the claim.

On the straightforward question of who should have the authority to decide the petitioner’s claim, the petition went unresolved for more than a year.

The court disagreed with the positions taken by the government officials, which resulted in needless judicial time wasting and harassment of the populace.

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“We direct the Respondents to coordinate with each other, decide about the forum, and inform the Court on the next date through a joint note as to who is the correct authority to decide the Petitioner’s claim. If not done, the court would be constrained to call the officers to the court to explain the position,” the court stated.