Four Years After Appellate Victory, J.K. Cement Gets Its Refund: Punjab & Haryana HC Orders Release on Undertaking Despite Pending GSTAT Appeal

The Punjab & Haryana High Court has ordered the release of a GST refund to J.K. Cement Limited that had been withheld for nearly four years — despite the Revenue having filed an appeal before the GSTAT against the order that granted the refund. The ruling, by a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor in CWP-29456-2025 (decided 28.07.2026), addresses a recurring pattern in GST refund administration: the Revenue's strategy of filing an appeal before the GSTAT as a ground for indefinitely withholding refunds that have been allowed at the appellate level.

J.K. Cement Limited had won its refund claim at the Appellate Commissioner level in September 2022. More than three and a half years elapsed without the refund being credited. When the company approached the High Court, the Revenue's defence was that it had filed a further appeal before the GSTAT under Section 112 of the CGST Act on 27.03.2026 — and that in these circumstances, the refund amount could not be released.

The court did not accept this position. The appellate order allowing the refund had been passed in September 2022. The Revenue's GSTAT appeal was filed only in March 2026 — three and a half years after the appellate order. There was no indication that any date for hearing had even been fixed before the Tribunal. A company of J.K. Cement's standing, engaged in cement manufacturing, was not a fly-by-night operator. The court found no justification for withholding a confirmed refund for such a length of time merely because the Revenue had filed a belated appeal before the Tribunal.

The court directed the Revenue to release the refund amount within six weeks of J.K. Cement furnishing an undertaking that if the Revenue's GSTAT appeal succeeds and a liability is established, the corresponding amount will be duly deposited in accordance with law. This undertaking-based release mechanism preserves the Revenue's interests in the appeal proceedings while ending what the court treated as unreasonable deprivation of a confirmed refund. The ruling provides a clear template for similarly situated taxpayers who have obtained appellate refund orders but are being denied payment on account of a Revenue appeal to the GSTAT.
 

-2026-juristway.com-2171-HC(Punjab & Haryana)-GST  |  High Court of Punjab & Haryana  |  28.07.2026