Case Details: Arup Kumar Chatterjee vs. Assistant Commissioner of State Tax, Bureau of Investigation (South Bengal) [2025] 181 taxmann.com 359 (Calcutta)
Judiciary and Counsel Details
- Om Narayan Rai, J.
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Akshat Agarwal & Ms Doyel Dey for the Petitioner.
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Nilotpal Chatterjee, Tanoy Chakraborty & Saptak Sanyal for the Respondent.
Facts of the Case
The petitioner, filed a writ petition challenging the dismissal of statutory appeal for failure to comply with the mandatory pre-deposit requirement. It was contended that the demand was illegal, on which basis waiver of the pre-deposit was sought. It was further submitted that the Appellate Authority dismissed the appeal solely on the ground of non-payment of pre-deposit, notwithstanding that an amount exceeding 10 per cent of the disputed tax had already been recovered by the Department. The matter was accordingly placed before the High Court.
High Court Held
The High Court held that the Appellate Authority has no power to waive the mandatory statutory requirement of pre-deposit prescribed under Section 107(6) of the CGST Act and the West Bengal GST Act. The Court held that the statutory pre-deposit is a condition precedent for maintainability of an appeal and cannot be relaxed by the Appellate Authority. It further held that since an amount exceeding 10 per cent of the disputed tax had already been recovered by the Department of Revenue, the statutory requirement of pre-deposit stood satisfied. The Court therefore quashed the impugned order and remanded the matter to the Appellate Authority with a direction to hear and decide the appeal on merits without insisting on any further pre-deposit.
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