LI Network
Published on: 28 January, 2024 at 00:30 IST
The Allahabad High Court has ruled that Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963, does not apply to appeals filed under Section 107 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act).
Justice Shekhar B. Saraf asserted that the CGST Act is a special and self-contained statute. Section 107 of the Act contains an inbuilt mechanism that implicitly excludes the application of the Limitation Act.
Section 5 of the Limitation Act is applicable only when explicitly extended to the special statute. Since Section 107 of the CGST Act explicitly provides for limitations without any clause allowing for the condonation of delay, Section 5 of the Limitation Act is entirely excluded.
The case involved the dismissal of the petitioner’s appeal under Section 107 of the CGST Act by the Additional Commissioner, Grade-II (Appeal)-1st, Commercial Tax, Agra, on the grounds of being time-barred. The appeal was filed 28 months after the statutory limitation of 4 months.
The Court referred to previous rulings, including Singh Enterprises v. Commissioner of Central Excise, Jamshedpur and Others, and Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise v. Hongo India Private Limited and Another.
These cases, decided by the Supreme Court, upheld the High Court’s decision not to condone delays in tax cases, emphasizing that the High Court lacks the authority to condone delays under taxation laws.
Consequently, the writ petition was dismissed.
Case Title: M/S Garg Enterprises v. State Of U.P. And 2 Others [WRIT TAX No. – 291 of 2022]