The Madras High Court has applied the Supreme Court's ruling in Goodluck India Limited (06.08.2026) to remand four writ petitions in which refunds had been denied or recovered on the basis of Rule 96(10) of the CGST Rules. The order, by Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy in WP Nos. 24035, 24044, 24047 and 24051 of 2026 (M/s Intermed, decided 17.08.2026), confirms that the Supreme Court's declaration — that omission of Rule 96(10) without a saving clause means the rule is obliterated from the statute book for all pending proceedings — directly governs these cases and requires fresh adjudication.
The petitioner, M/s Intermed, had received IGST refunds on exports while procuring inputs under notifications covered by Rule 96(10)'s restrictions. The adjudicating authority had denied the refunds (or ordered recovery of refunds already paid) by relying on Rule 96(10) even after the rule's omission on 08.10.2024, on the stated ground that there was no Supreme Court order at the time. The petitioner had cited the Kerala High Court's judgment in Sance Laboratories (striking down Rule 96(10)) but the authority held that the Kerala judgment was not binding outside Kerala in the absence of a Supreme Court confirmation.
Following the Supreme Court's clear declaration in Goodluck India that Rule 96(10) was omitted without a saving clause and this omission applies to all pending proceedings, the Madras HC found that the impugned orders could not stand. The Supreme Court had specifically quoted from the 54th GST Council recommendation — that Rule 96(10) led to "unnecessary complications without any intended benefit" — and confirmed that the intention of the omission was to end those complications for all pending cases, not merely future ones. The impugned orders were set aside and the matters remanded to the adjudicating authority for reconsideration in light of the Supreme Court's ruling. All four matters are now to be decided afresh on the merits of the refund entitlements.
2026-juristway.com-2335-HC(Madras)-GST | High Court of Madras | WP Nos. 24035, 24044, 24047 & 24051 of 2026 | 17.08.2026