Right To File Statutory Appeal Is Mandatory Before Initiating Any Recovery Proceeding: Calcutta High Court

The petitioner/assessee has challenged the action of recovery of the demand arising out of the adjudication order by debiting from the electronic credit ledger. The demand was in violation of Section 78 of the WBGST Act, 2017 without giving any opportunity to the petitioner to file a statutory appeal, which is mandatory before initiating any recovery proceeding.

The petitioner submitted that the adjudication order was passed on December 14, 2021, while just within 16 days, the respondent department had recovered the demand in question, which is a clear violation of the provision of Section 78 of the Income Tax Act.

The court directed the department to refund the money which it had collected in excess of demand in the amount in question, which was required to be deposited as a pre-deposit for the filing of an appeal against the adjudication order within 15 days from the date. The court has imposed a condition that the petitioner will file an appeal against the adjudication order within 15 days from the date. If an appeal is filed by the petitioner within the stipulated time, the appellate authority will consider the issue of limitation by taking a lenient view.

"In case the petitioner fails to file an appeal within the stipulated time, the respondent authorities concerned will be free to take action in the future to realise the demand in question again. Liberty is given to the petitioner to file an appeal offline since the time to file an appeal online has already expired," the court said.

Case Title: Purulia Metal Casting Pvt. Ltd. Versus Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Purulia Charge & Ors.

Case No: W.P.A. 14286 of 2022

Dated: 14.07.2022

Counsel For Petitioner: Advocate Sumit Ghosh, Souradeep Majumdar

Counsel For Respondent: Advocate A. Ray, S. Mukherjee, D. Ghosh, V. Kothari

Click Here To Read/Download Order