Gujarat High Court rules in favor of the taxpayer

Gujarat High Court rules in favor of the taxpayer

A technical glitch in the Goods and Services Tax Network portal is the responsibility of the concerned authorities

The Gujarat High Court has held that a taxpayer entitled to Input Tax Credit (ITC) should not be deprived of the claim due to a technical glitch in the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) portal.

The division bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Nisha M Thakore ruled that it was within the capacity of the department to resolve the issue.

The department tried to upload the ITC – 01 Form, but due to a technical glitch in the GSTN portal, the concerned authority was unable to do so. Thereafter, it inquired with the Electronic Data Processing (EDP) cell, Gujarat. In turn, the latter asked the assistant commissioner to inform the GSTN through a nodal officer. But even after doing so, the issue remained unresolved.

Though the court said that even the writ applicant, Ezzy Electricals was also at fault, as while trying to upload the Form, it appeared that a wrong offline tool was used. It was evident from the affidavit-in-reply filed by the department.

However, the bench noted that Uchit Sheth, the counsel appearing for the writ applicant, was right in his submission. Sheth had said that if at the outset the department had brought the issue of using the wrong offline tool to his client's notice, probably, something could have been done.

The court said that it was now for the respondents to ensure that the writ applicant was permitted to upload the Form so as to enable him to claim the ITC worth Rs.5 lakh approximately under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act.