TMI Blog2022 (3) TMI 1303X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion/clarification, it is apt to say that the petitioner having filed appeal on 13.11.2020 before the Appellate Authority upon receipt of the Order in Form GST DRC-07 in terms of Rule 142(5) of the OGST Rules in connection with Section 74 of the OGST Act on 06.03.2020, the delay caused should have been condoned by the Appellate Authority. Petition allowed. - W.P.(C) No. 7490 of 2021 - - - Dated:- 11-3-2022 - JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH AND JUSTICE M.S. RAMAN Petitioner Mr. Sriman Arpit Mohanty, Advocate Opposite Parties Mr. Sidharth Sankar Padhy, Addl. Standing Counsel for the CT GST ORDER 1. This matter is taken up by virtual/physical mode. 2. Assailing the Order dated 31.12.2020 passed by the Additional Commissioner of State Tax (Appeal), Balasore- Appellate Authority directed against the Order dated 06.03.2020 passed by the Proper Officer under Section 74(9) of the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (referred to as OGST Act for brevity) and issued in Form GST DRC-07 prescribed under Rule 142(5) of the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (for short referred to as OGST Rules ), the petitioner, being aggrieved by rejection of the appeal preferr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ority should have perceived the plight of the litigants that prevailed during the first phase of COVID-19 pandemic situation and entertained the appeal for hearing on merits. 5. Mr. Sidhartha Shankar Padhy, Advocate appearing for the Opposite Parties vehemently objected to the contention of the Petitioner and supported the order passed in appeal. 6. The provisions of sub-sections (1) and (4) of Section 107 of the OGST Act which were taken into consideration by the Appellate Authority to reject the appeal preferred by the petitioner reads thus: (1) Any person aggrieved by any decision or order passed under this Act or the Central Goods and Services Tax Act by an adjudicating authority may appeal to such Appellate Authority as may be prescribed within three months from the date on which the said decision or order is communicated to such person. *** (4) The Appellate Authority may, if he is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from presenting the appeal within the aforesaid period of three months or six months, as the case may be, allow it to be presented within a further period of one month. 7. Aforesaid provisions indicate that a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in their respective jurisdiction. 10. This Court considering gravity of situation, vide Order dated 05.05.2020 in the matter of Bijaya Kumar Ragada Vrs. State of Odisha, W.P.(C) No.9095 of 2020 , observed as follows:- 2. Lock-down Phase 3.0 throughout the country for two weeks w.e.f. 04th May, 2020 is in currency now. Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) has infected more than 46,000 persons so far across the country. The virus, Novel as it is, in absence of vaccine and medication to arrest its spread, declares with pride Hide from me to be safe and Keep distance from my carrier to be alive . Hon ble Prime Minister of India and Hon ble Chief Minister of our State have taken well conceived, well thought of, justly considered, tough and hard steps to contain the crisis arising out of the virus. 3. Staying at home to be safe and maintaining social distance are the only ways to check spread of the virus. India countries cross sections of people of various religion, faith, cast, creed and colour. Law abidingness, however, has never been a natural habit of a part of the population. Irresponsibility is writ large when it comes to conforming to certain sets of discipline and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... India read with Sections 482 483, Cr.P.C. and Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, we issue the following directions to at least contain the plight of the litigants and non-litigants. *** (xi) That it is further directed that if the Government of Odisha and/or any of its Department and/or functionaries, Central Government and/or its departments or functionaries or any Public Sector Undertakings or any Public or Private Companies or any Firm or any individual or person is/are, by the order of this Court or any Court subordinate to it or the Tribunals, required to do a particular thing or carry out certain direction in a particular manner in a time frame, which expired or is going to expire at any time, during the period of lockdown or the extended lockdown, time for compliance of such order shall stand extended up to 18th June 2020, unless specifically directed otherwise. *** Aforesaid arrangement made vide Order dated 05.05.2020 in Bijaya Kumar Ragada Vrs. State of Odisha, W.P.(C) No.9095 of 2020 was being extended on various dates and vide Order dated 16.10.2020 this Court observed as follows: 3. The aforesaid order was extended subsequently o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, GST Policy Wing clarified as follows: xxx xxx xxx xxx 2.1 The extract of the Hon ble Supreme order dated 27th April 2021 is reproduced below for reference: We, therefore, restore the order dated 23rd March, 2020 and in continuation of the order dated 8th March, 2021 direct that the period(s) of limitation, as prescribed under any general or special laws in respect of all judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings, whether condonable or not, shall stand extended till further orders. It is further clarified that the period from 14th March, 2021 till further orders shall also stand excluded in computing the periods prescribed under Sections 23 (4) and 29A of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act, 2015 and provisos (b) and (c) of Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 and any other laws, which prescribe period(s) of limitation for instituting proceedings, outer limits (within which the court or tribunal can condone delay) and termination of proceedings. We have passed this order in exercise of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Those cases need to be adjudicated or disposed off either physically or through the virtual mode based on the prevailing policies and practices besides instructions if any. (v) The following actions such as scrutiny of returns, issuance of summons, search, enquiry or investigations and even consequential arrest in accordance with GST law would not be covered by the judgment of the Hon ble Supreme Court. (vi) As regards issuance of show cause notice, granting time for replies and passing orders, the present Orders of the Hon ble Supreme Court may not cover them even though they are quasi-judicial proceedings as the same has only been made applicable to matters relating to petitions/applications/suits, etc. 4. On the basis of the legal opinion, it is hereby clarified that various actions/compliances under GST can be broadly categorised as follows: (a) Proceedings that need to be initiated or compliances that need to be done by the taxpayers: These actions would continue to be governed only by the statutory mechanism and time limit provided/ extensions granted under the statute itself. Various Orders of the Hon ble Supreme Court would not apply to the said ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ance, 2020 and the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. Section 168A thereof was first inserted with effect from 31.03.2020 by way of promulgation of the Odisha Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 (Odisha Ordinance No. 5 of 2020) by the Governor of Odisha on 09.06.2020 vide Law Department Notification No. 5278-I-Legis-22/2020/L, dt.11.06.2020, published in the Odisha Gazette Extraordinary No.856, dt.11.06.2020 and subsequently the same has been enacted as the Odisha Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Odisha Act 5 of 2020) and was given effect from 31.03.2020. 15. Consequent upon introduction of provisions in Section 168A in the OGST Act and being empowered under said provisions, the Government of Odisha in Finance Department issued Notification bearing No. 18491 FIN-CT1-TAX-0002/2020 [SRO No.138/2020], dated 22.06.2020 which came into force with effect from the 20th day of March, 2020 with the following terms: In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 168A of the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (Odisha Act 7 of 2017) (hereafter in this notification referred to as the said Act), in view of the spread of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... itions/applications/suits/appeals/all other proceedings within the period of limitation prescribed under the general law of limitation or under any special laws (both Central or State). By an order dated 27-3-2020 (sic 23-3-2020 [Cognizance for Extension of Limitation, In re, (2020) 19 SCC 10 : 2020 SCC OnLine SC 343]) this Court extended the period of limitation prescribed under the general law or special laws whether compoundable or not with effect from 15-3-2020 till further orders. The order dated 15-3-2020 was extended from time to time. Though, we have not seen the end of the pandemic, there is considerable improvement. The lockdown has been lifted and the country is returning to normalcy. Almost all the Courts and Tribunals are functioning either physically or by virtual mode. We are of the opinion that the order dated 15-3-2020 has served its purpose and in view of the changing scenario relating to the pandemic, the extension of limitation should come to an end. 2. We have considered the suggestions of the learned Attorney General for India regarding the future course of action. We deem it appropriate to issue the following directions: 2.1. In computing the peri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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