Jharkhand High Court Refuses To Entertain Writ Against Delayed GST Order, Cites Alternative Remedy

The Jharkhand High Court refused to entertain a writ petition challenging a GST adjudication order passed after a delay of five years, holding that the taxpayer must avail themselves of the statutory appellate remedy instead of invoking writ jurisdiction. A bench comprising Chief Justice M.S. Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar observed that where a statutory appeal is available, the High Court should not ordinarily entertain a writ petition. The Court noted, “Since the petitioner has an...

Bombay High Court Rules Damages Under Arbitral Award Not Taxable Under GST In Tata Sons–NTT Docomo Case

The Bombay High Court has held that the Rs. 8,450 crore paid by Tata Sons to NTT Docomo under an arbitral award cannot be subjected to GST.The payment arose from a dispute over Docomo's exit rights under a shareholders' agreement in Tata Teleservices, and the Court rejected the tax department's claim that it amounted to a taxable service. A Division Bench of Justices G.S. Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe was considering whether settlement of the arbitral award and the accompanying consent terms could...

Consolidated GST Show Cause Notices Across Multiple Years Permissible: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has recently ruled that GST authorities can issue a single show cause notice covering multiple financial years, settling a dispute over whether such notices must be confined to one year. The question before the court was, “Whether it would be permissible to issue consolidated/common show cause notice under Sections 73 and 74 of the Act covering multiple financial years or multiple tax periods?” Answering this, a bench of Justice S.G. Pandit and Justice K.V. Aravind...

Bombay High Court Quashes GST Demand On Mumbai University, Says Affiliation Not 'Supply' Of Service

The Bombay High Court has recently set aside a GST demand of Rs 16.90 crore on the University of Mumbai, holding that affiliation fees collected by the university are part of its statutory duties and not taxable. “Thus, having examined Section 7 and its purport in regard to its applicability in the context of the petitioner University receiving affiliation fee, in our opinion, there ought not to be any ambiguity that the collection of affiliation fees by the petitioner University in the...

Mere GST Deposit In Electronic Ledger Not Payment Until Appropriated To Government: Andhra Pradesh High Court

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has recently held that merely depositing GST in the electronic ledger does not amount to payment to the Government, while setting aside a tax and penalty order against Sona Enterprises. "The provisions of Section 49(1) of the CGST Act read with Rule 87(6) & (7) of the CGST Rules makes it clear that the deposit of cash or the credit of input tax credit into the electronic ledger of the tax payer would not amount to payment of tax. Such payment of tax would...

Bombay High Court Allows GST Refund For Pre-July 5, 2022 Claims Under Revised Inverted Duty Formula

The Bombay High Court has granted a GST refund to a Joint Venture, which is executing Mumbai Metro works, holding that the revised refund formula for inverted tax structure applies even to claims filed before July 5, 2022, when the amended formula came into force. “The Petitioner will be entitled to the refund as per Section 54(3) of the CGST Act being the difference in the GST rates, due to inverted rate structure.”, the court held.Quashing rejection orders passed by GST authorities, a...

Delhi High Court Declines GST Refund Challenge In Writ, Says Appeal Lies Before GSTAT

The Delhi High Court has declined to entertain a writ petition challenging rejection of GST refund claims, holding that the petitioner must avail the statutory remedy of appeal before the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).A division bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Ajay Digpaul was dealing with a plea filed by Mahanadi Exporttek Private Limited assailing an appellate order that had upheld rejection of its refund claims aggregating over Rs. 4 crore under Section 54 of...

Madhya Pradesh High Court Sets Aside ₹7.01 Crore GST Demand, Says Officer Lacked Proper Authorisation

The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently held that a GST demand of Rs. 7.01 crore could not be sustained as it was passed by the Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Anti-Evasion Bureau, Indore, who lacked jurisdiction in the absence of a GST Council-backed authorisation. A bench of Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla and Justice Alok Awasthi set aside the order passed against a firm, Subhash Chandra Narendra Kumar Nahar. “The impugned order dated 30.12.2025 passed by the respondent No.4 is quashed,...

Taxpayer Must Be Heard Even If They Opt Out Of Personal Hearing Under GST Law: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court recently quashed a GST demand against a registered taxpayer, holding that authorities must grant a personal hearing before passing an adverse order and cannot bypass this requirement even if the taxpayer opts out in a form. A division bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Pranav Trivedi held that the statutory mandate governing adjudication has to be strictly followed. The court said, “the option of no personal hearing taken by the petitioner, cannot override the...

Tripura High Court Orders Rs 2.21 Crore GST Reimbursement Under Work Contract Clause With 12% Interest

The High Court of Tripura has directed the State authorities to reimburse Rs. 2.21 crore along with 12% interest to a government contractor, holding that taxes paid under the GST regime must be refunded where the contract expressly provides for such reimbursement.A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice Biswajit Palit was dealing with a writ petition filed by Sri Nimai Kar, a Class-I government contractor, who had undertaken a road construction project pursuant...

Jharkhand High Court Refuses Tata Steel's Writ Against GST Demand, Says Appeal Is Proper Remedy

The Jharkhand High Court has recently refused to entertain a writ petition filed by Tata Steel Limited challenging a GST adjudication order involving alleged wrongful availment of input tax credit, holding that the company had not made out a case to bypass the statutory appellate remedy. “We are satisfied that the petitioner has not made out any case for bypassing the alternate statutory remedy of appeal.”, the court held.A Bench of Chief Justice M. S. Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar...

GST Refund Cannot Be Rejected Without Considering Documents Already On Record: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on 16 April set aside an order rejecting a GST refund claim after finding that the authorities failed to properly consider documents submitted by the taxpayer, including the Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC). A Division Bench comprising Justices G. S. Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe held that when relevant documents are already placed on record, the refund claim must be examined fairly and through a reasoned order. It observed: “No prejudice would be caused to the...