The Tribunal held that a taxpayer cannot be made to suffer due to technical glitches on the GST portal and that the shortfall in the cash component is a curable defect.
The GSTAT Agra Bench has set aside the dismissal of a first appeal filed under the amnesty scheme (Notification No. 53/2023), where the entire pre-deposit of 12.5% of disputed tax was debited from the electronic credit ledger instead of the required split of 2.5% via electronic cash ledger and 10% via electronic credit ledger. [Trishul Asphalt Products v. Additional Commissioner Grade 2 Appeals, Mathura & Ors.]
Member (Judicial) Ajeet Singh held that where the taxpayer claimed a technical glitch on the GST portal prevented proper ledger selection, the First Appellate Authority erred in summarily dismissing the appeal as time-barred without affording the taxpayer a reasonable opportunity to rectify the shortfall.
The Tribunal relied on the Patna High Court's decisions in M/s Friends Mobile v. State of Bihar and M/s Raiyan Traders v. Assistant Commissioner, both holding that appellate authorities ought to entertain appeals on merits rather than dismissing them on hyper-technical grounds regarding ledger segregation.
The appellant was granted 30 days to pay the shortfall cash component through the electronic cash ledger, with the excess amount from the electronic credit ledger to be recredited accordingly.
2026-juristway.com-3032-GSTAT(Agra)-GST | GSTAT Agra | APL/98/AGR/2026 | 16.10.2026
