The Gujarat High Court in its recent ruling in the case of M/S Deepak Print v. Union of India has directed the revenue department to allow the rectification of entries in the Form GSTR-3B return for the Month of May, 2019.
Facts of the case:
- The petitioner M/s Deepak Print is a proprietor engaged in the business of printing of dress materials etc. That the Petitioner had submitted the return of his business in the month of May, 2019 through the online process, i.e., the GST Portal.
- The Petitioner, inadvertently, in the course of making entries in the Form GSTR-3B for the month of May, 2019, wrongly uploaded the entries of M/s. Deepak Process instead of M/s. Deepak Print i.e., the Petitioner.
- Subsequently, the Petitioner preferred a representation in writing addressed to the Nodal Officer, SGST Office, Rajkot (Respondent) dated 25-6-2019, for which no response was provided.
- Being aggrieved, the Petitioner has filed this writ seeking to edit and upload actual entries in Form GSTR-3B for the Month of May 2019 which is at the submission stage, and to modify the conditions and rules mentioned in the Annexure-A of Circular No. 26/26/2017-GST, dated 29-12-2017, by which a registered person can edit any error if occurred during submitting / offsetting the Input Tax Credit and before filing of the Form GSTR-3B return.
Order of Gujarat High Court: Deliberations and Ruling
- It appears that the Nodal Officer at Rajkot did not even bother to give a formal reply or respond to the representation preferred by the writ applicant, referred to above. The writ applicant did try his best to take up the matter with the concerned authority but ultimately had to come before this Court with the present writ application.
- We take notice of the fact that in the last two years, the respondents have not even thought fit to file a formal reply opposing the writ application. Even, as on date, time was prayed for, which this Court declined having regard to the facts of the present case.
- Relied on the decision of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court in the case of Bharti Airtel Limited v. Union of India & Ors., and held that the Petitioner should be permitted to rectify the Form GSTR-3B in respect of the relevant period.
- The short point for our consideration is whether the writ applicant is entitled to seek rectification of Form GSTR-3B for the month of May 2019.
In view of the above deliberations, the Hon’ble Court directed the Respondent, to modify the conditions and rules mentioned in Annexure A of Circular No. 26/26/2017-GST dated 29-12-2017, by which a registered person can edit any error if occurred during submitting/offsetting the ITC and before the filing of the Form GSTR-3B return. Further respondent was directed that on the filing of the rectified Form GSTR-3B, it shall, within a period of two weeks, verify the claim made therein and give effect to the same once verified. As the writ applicant has been dragged into unnecessary litigation only on an account of the technicalities raised by the respondents, the writ applicant shall not be saddled with the liability of payment of late fees.
With the aforesaid directions, this writ application stands disposed of. We hope and trust that the writ applicant may not have to come back to this Court on any further technicalities that the Department is in the habit of raising, and thereby giving result to unnecessary litigation.
Our view:
The above order is in line with the earlier orders of other Courts like Hon’ble Madras High Court in Pentacle Plant Machineries Pvt. Ltd. v. Office of the GST Council and ors. had allowed the assessee to correct a “human error” while filing Form GSTR-1 return, wherein the assessee mentioned the GST number of the purchaser in Uttar Pradesh instead of the GST number of the purchaser in Andhra Pradesh and realized only when the recipient notified it of the rejection of credit. The Court had, in this case, had relied on its earlier decision in Sun Dye Chem v. The Assistant Commissioner wherein it was held that the assessee should not be mulcted with any liability on account of the bonafide, human error and must be permitted to correct the same.
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CA. Mohammad Salim is an ICAI award winning Chartered Accountant having rich experience of more than 20 years in the field of indirect taxes. He is the Member, Indirect Taxes Committee of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He is author of four successful books on GST published by Taxmann Publication and is also GST expert on taxmann portal.
