Refund Limitation Runs Afresh From 1 Mar 2022 for COVID‑Window Payments: GSTAT New Delhi

The GST Appellate Tribunal’s New Delhi Bench dismissed the Department’s appeal, holding a refund claim filed on 29 Feb 2024 within time because the entire two-year Section 54(1) period began only after the exclusion ended.

The GST Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi, has held that where the relevant date for a refund falls inside the period excluded by Notification No. 13/2022-Central Tax dated 5 Jul 2022, the full two years under Section 54(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 run from 1 Mar 2022, not merely the overlapping days added to the normal due date. The Bench of Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal, Vice President, and Rajiv Kapoor, Member (Technical), dismissed the Department’s appeal under Section 112(3) and held the first refund application of 29 Feb 2024 to be within time [Laldeo Rajak v. Kaneka India Private Limited, 2026-juristway.com-3218-GSTAT(New Delhi)-GST].

The respondent had received an advance of ₹7,11,67,068 in April 2020 and paid GST on it through its GSTR‑3B filed on 19 May 2020. After part was adjusted against supplies in June 2020, it sought refund of ₹39,88,388 on the unadjusted portion. After two deficiency memos in FORM GST RFD‑03, a third application was filed on 25 May 2024, and the claim was rejected as time-barred.

The first appellate authority annulled the rejection because the respondent’s reply invoking the notification had not been dealt with. The Department argued that only 650 days stood excluded when counted from 19 May 2020, making the last date 28 Feb 2024 and the first application one day late. It also relied on the Andhra Pradesh High Court in M/s MC Wane India Private Limited v. State of Andhra Pradesh & Others (2026:APHC:13141).

The Bench first held that the appellate order, which annulled the adjudication order without deciding limitation, did not meet Section 107(11) and (12). Annulling so that the original authority looks at the matter again was “a remand in substance, which the statute forbids”, it said, and it chose to decide limitation itself rather than remit the case.

On limitation, the Bench applied paragraphs 5(I) and 5(II) of the Supreme Court’s directions in In Re: Cognizance for Extension of Limitation (Suo Motu Writ Petition (C) No. 3 of 2020) along with the notification. As no part of the two years had run before 28 Feb 2022, the period began on 1 Mar 2022 and, under the General Clauses Act, 1897, ended on 29 Feb 2024. That ruling was held inapplicable.

The Bench added that applications re-filed after deficiency memos relate back to a timely original application, but relation back cannot cure an original application that is itself late. It rejected the plea that the amount was a deposit outside Section 54, since GST on the advance was validly payable when paid, and held the two-year period to be a substantive condition, not a procedural one. The annulment was upheld, for the Bench’s own reasons in place of those in the appellate order.

2026-juristway.com-3218-GSTAT(New Delhi)-GST