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2019 (11) TMI 710 - HC - GSTInput tax credit - shifting to GST regime - transitional credit - section 140 of the CGST Act - rectification of mistake in the declaration filed in FORM GST TRAN-1 - case of Revenue is that the petitioner, after the expiry of approximately two months from the last date of filing FORM GST TRAN-1 viz. 27th December, 2017, had requested the department on 19th February, 2018, to correct the mistake in the declaration filed in FORM GST TRAN-1 - non-compliance with the rule 117 of the CGST Rules - HELD THAT:- In terms of rule 117 of the CGST Rules, FORM GST TRAN-1 was required to be filed within the prescribed time limit. Such time limit was extended by the Central Government from time to time and was lastly extended till 27th December, 2017. It is an admitted position that the petitioner had filed the FORM GST TRAN-1 within the time prescribed in the rules. However, there was an inadvertent mistake on the part of the petitioner in not mentioning the details of ₹ 83,99,136/- in column 6 of Table 5a and instead of which the petitioner had uploaded the details in column 5 of Table 5a due to misunderstanding of the form - It is only when it was noticed by the petitioner that due to inadvertent error, the form had not been correctly filled in, resulting the petitioner being denied input tax to the extent of ₹ 83,99,136/-, that the petitioner sought to revise the form and sought the advice of the department. The petitioner, accordingly, addressed several communications to the respondents in respect of his genuine grievance; however to no avail. In the case of Bhargava Motors v. Union of India [2019 (5) TMI 899 - DELHI HIGH COURT], where the Delhi High Court is satisfied that the Petitioner’s difficulty in filling up a correct credit amount in the TRAN-1 form is a genuine one which should not preclude him from having his claim examined by the authorities in accordance with law. Adverting to the facts of the present case, considering the averments made in the affidavit-in-reply filed on behalf of the respondents, it is manifest that it is an admitted position that the petitioner was entitled to credit of ₹ 83,99,136/- in addition to credit of ₹ 8,64,055/- (which came to be allowed as it was correctly mentioned). The only reason for denying credit of such a huge amount of ₹ 83,99,136/- is that the time limit for filing a revised TRAN-1 form has elapsed on 27th December, 2017 - the substantive right of the petitioner to claim transitional credit of such amount is sought to be denied on the ground that the time limit for filing revised FORM GST TRAN-1 has elapsed. In the opinion of this court, the respondents ought to have provided in the system itself a facility for rectification of such errors which are clearly bona fide. Besides, although the system provided for revision of a return, the deadline for making the revision coincided with the last date for filing the return, that is, 27th December, 2017. Thus, such facility was rendered impractical and meaningless - This court is further of the view that retention of the amount of ₹ 83,99,136/- by the respondents which the petitioner is otherwise entitled to get by way of transitional credit would be directly hit by article 265 of the Constitution of India which provides that no tax shall be levied or collected except by authority of law. The action of the respondents in denying transitional credit of the sum of ₹ 83,99,136/-, which even according to the respondents, the petitioner is otherwise entitled by way of transitional credit, cannot be sustained - The respondents are directed to either open the online portal so as to enable the petitioner to again file the rectified FORM GST TRAN-1 electronically or accept the manually filed FORM GST TRAN-1 with corrections on or before 30th November, 2019 - petition allowed.
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