FILING OF APPEAL BEFORE GOODS AND SERVICES TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL – PART III

[DR.MARIAPPAN GOVINDARAJAN]

Verification of appeal

The appeal shall be signed as per the procedure detailed below-

• in the case of an individual, by the individual himself or where he is absent from India, by some other person duly authorised by him in this behalf, and where the individual is mentally incapacitated from attending to his affairs, by his guardian or by any other person competent to act on his behalf;
• in the case of a Hindu Undivided Family, by a Karta and where the Karta is absent from India or is mentally incapacitated from attending to his affairs, by any other adult member of such family or by the authorised signatory of such Karta;
• in the case of a company, by the chief executive officer or authorised signatory thereof;
• in the case of a government or any Governmental agency or local authority, by an officer authorised in this behalf;
• in the case of a firm, by any partner thereof, not being a minor or authorised signatory thereof;
• in the case of any other association, by any member of the association or persons or authorised signatory thereof;
• in the case of a trust, by the trustee or any trustee or authorised signatory thereof; or
• in the case of any other person, by some person competent to act on his behalf, or by a person authorised in accordance with the provisions of section 48. (GST practitioners).

Final acknowledgement

Where the order appealed against is uploaded on the common portal, a final acknowledgement, indicating appeal number, shall be issued in FORM GST APL-02 on removal of defects, if any, and the date of issue of the provisional acknowledgement shall be considered as the date of filing of appeal.

 Where the order appealed against is not uploaded on the common portal, the appellant shall submit or upload,  a self-certified copy of the said order within a period of 7 days from the date of filing of FORM GST APL-05 and a final acknowledgement, indicating appeal number, shall be issued in FORM GST APL-02 on removal of defects, if any, and the date of issue of the provisional acknowledgment shall be considered as the date of filing of appeal.   If the same is filed after 7 days from the date of filing the appeal the final acknowledgement shall be issued.  But the date of uploading the said documents is considered as the date of filing of the appeal.

Admission of appeal

On admission of appeal, the same shall be numbered and registered in the appropriate register maintained in this behalf and its number shall be entered therein.  In every appeal or application, arithmetical, grammatical, clerical and such other errors may be rectified on the orders of the Registrar without notice to Parties.  No such amendments shall be allowed ex-parte after appearance of the respondents.

Calling for records

On the admission of appeal, the Registrar shall, if so, directed by the Appellate Tribunal, call for the records relating to the proceedings from the respective Bench of Appellate Tribunal or adjudicating authority and retransmit the same at the conclusion of the proceedings or at any time.

Authorisation

If an appeal is instituted by or on behalf of an applicant or respondent or party, the person who signs or verifies the same shall produce along with such appeal, for verification by the Registrar, a true copy of authorization letter empowering such person to do so.  The Registrar may at any time call upon the party to produce such further materials as he deems fit for satisfying himself about due authorisation.

Damaged documents

If a document produced along with any pleading appears to be defaced, torn, or in any way damaged or otherwise its condition or appearance requires special notice, a mention regarding its condition and appearance shall be made by the party producing the same in the Index of such a pleading and the same shall be verified and initialled by the officer authorised to receive the same.

Interlocutory applications

Every interlocutory application for stay, direction, rectification in order, condonation of delay, early hearing, exemption from production of copy of order appealed against or extension of time prayed for in pending matters shall include all the information as per the prescribed GSTAT FORM-01 and the requirements prescribed in that behalf shall be complied with by the applicant, besides filing an affidavit supporting the application.

Rejection or amendment of appeal

The Registrar may, in its discretion, on sufficient cause being shown, accept a Form of Appeal which is not accompanied by the required documents or is in any other way defective, and in such cases may require the appellant to file such documents or as the case may be, make necessary amendments within such time as it may allow, which may in any case not exceed 30 days.

 The Registrar may reject the Form of Appeal, if the documents referred to therein are not produced, or the amendments are not made, within the time-limit allowed.

The President may in his discretion authorise any officer of the Appellate Tribunal to-

• return any Form of appeal, application or documents filed manually and which is/are not in accordance with these Rules; and
• allow the documents to be refiled after removal of the defects in the specified time.

On representation, the Bench concerned may in its discretion either accept the Form of Appeal in terms of above rules but the appeal or application may not be restored to its original number unless the Bench allows it to be so restored on sufficient cause being shown.

Copy of appeal to parties

A copy each of appeal and relevant documents along with relied upon documents shall be provided to the respondent as well as to the concerned Commissioner, as the case may be, as soon as they are filed for filing of reply or cross objections, if any.

Cross objections

On receipt of notice that an appeal has been preferred, the party against whom the appeal has been preferred may, notwithstanding that he may not have appealed against such order or any part thereof, file within 45 days of the receipt of notice, a memorandum of cross-objections, verified in the prescribed manner, against any part of the order appealed against and such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal, as if it were an appeal presented within the time.  The Appellate Tribunal may permit the filing of a memorandum of cross-objections within 45 days after the expiry of the limitation period if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not presenting it within that period.

 The memorandum of cross-objections may be filed manually in FORM GST APL-06, only if the Registrar allows the same by issuing a special or general order to that effect, subject to such conditions and restrictions as specified in the said order.  The memorandum of cross objections shall be signed in the manner specified in rule 26.

Every Form of cross-objections shall be registered and numbered, and the provisions of these rules, relating to appeals shall, so far as may be, apply to such form or application.

Filing of reply

Each respondent may file his reply to the petition or the application and copies of the documents, either in person or through an authorised representative, with the registrar as specified by the Appellate Tribunal within 1 month of the receipt thereof. A copy of such reply and the copies of other documents shall be forthwith served on the applicant by the respondent.

On being served the reply or documents the applicant shall specifically admit, deny, or rebut the facts stated by the respondent in his submission and state such additional facts as may be found necessary.

Rejoinder

If the respondent states such additional facts as may be necessary for the just decision of the case, the Bench may allow the petitioner to file a rejoinder to the reply filed by the respondent on GSTAT portal, with an advance copy to be served upon the respondent within one month or within such time as may be specified or extended by Bench.

Procedure before Appellate Tribunal

The Appellate Tribunal shall not, while disposing of any proceedings before it or an appeal before it, be bound by the procedure laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and subject to the other provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder, the Appellate Tribunal shall have power to regulate its own procedure.

The Appellate Tribunal shall have the following powers as are vested in a Civil Court under Civil Procedure Code, 1908 while trying a suit in the following matters-

• summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;
•  requiring the discovery and production of documents;
• receiving evidence on affidavits;
• subject to the provisions of sections 123 and 124 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, requisitioning any public record or document or a copy of such record or document from any office;
•  issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses or documents;
• dismissing a representation for default or deciding it ex parte;
• setting aside any order of dismissal of any representation for default or any order passed by it ex parte; and
• any other matter which may be prescribed.

Cause list

The Registrar shall prepare and publish the cause list for the next working day, which shall include all the information as specified in GSTAT CDR-01, on the notice board of the Appellate Tribunal and GSTAT Portal before the closing of working hours on each working day.   The listing of cases in the daily cause list shall be in the following order of priority, unless otherwise ordered by the concerned Bench-

• cases for pronouncement of orders;
• cases for clarification;
• cases for admission;
• cases for orders or directions;
• part-heard cases, latest part-heard having precedence; and
• cases posted as per numerical order or as directed by the Bench.

The Registrar shall communicate to the parties the date and place of hearing of the appeal or application.  The title of the daily cause list shall consist of the number of the appeal, the day, date and time of the sitting Bench Hall number and the coram indicating the names of the Judicial members and Technical Members constituting the Bench.

The names of the legal practitioners or authorised representative appearing for both sides and setting out in brackets the designation of the parties whom they represent will be shown in the daily cause list.  The names of the parties, if unrepresented, with their ranks in brackets will also be shown in the cause list.

If by reason of declaration of holiday or for any other unforeseen reason, the Appellate Tribunal does not function for the day, the new daily cause list shall be prepared for the cases listed for the day.  When the sitting of a particular Bench is cancelled for the reason of inability of any Member of the Bench, the Registrar shall, unless otherwise directed, adjourn the cases posted before that Bench to a convenient date.  The adjournment or posting or directions shall be notified on the notice board and on the GSTAT Portal.

Service of notices

Any notice or communication to be issued by the Appellate Tribunal may be served by any of the following method as contained in Section 169 of the Act-

• by giving or tendering it directly or by a messenger including a courier to the addressee or the taxable person or to his manager or authorised representative or an advocate or a tax practitioner holding authority to appear in the proceedings on behalf of the taxable person or to a person regularly employed by him in connection with the business, or to any adult member of family residing with the taxable person; or
• by registered post or speed post or courier with acknowledgement due, to the person for whom it is intended or his authorised representative, if any, at his last known place of business or residence; or
• by sending a communication to his e-mail address provided at the time of registration or as amended from time to time; or
• by making it available on the common portal; or
• by publication in a newspaper circulating in the locality in which the taxable person or the person to whom it is issued is last known to have resided, carried on business or personally worked for gain; or
•  if none of the modes aforesaid is practicable, by affixing it in some conspicuous place at his last known place of business or residence and if such mode is not practicable for any reason, then by affixing a copy thereof on the notice board of the office of the concerned officer or authority who or which passed such decision or order or issued such summons or notice.

When such decision, order, summons, notice or any communication is sent by registered post or speed post, it shall be deemed to have been received by the addressee at the expiry of the period normally taken by such post in transit unless the contrary is proved.

The Appellate Tribunal may after taking into account the number of respondents and their place of residence or work or service are so many that they could not be effected in any manner and other circumstances, direct that notice of the petition or application shall be served upon the respondents in any other manner, including any manner of substituted service, as it appears to the Appellate Tribunal just and convenient.

A notice or process may also be served on an authorised representative of the applicant or the respondent, as the case may be, in any proceeding or on any person authorised to accept a notice or a process, and such service on the authorised representative shall be deemed to be a proper service.

Contd.. – Part IV