Orissa HC: GSTAT is Functional; Taxpayers Must File Appeals and Pay 20% Pre-deposit by June 2026.

The Dispute: The Mandatory Pre-Deposit Hurdles

The Conflict: The petitioner lost their first appeal for the period 2019-20. To stay the tax demand, they filed a Writ Petition, arguing that the Second Appeal (to the GSTAT) was impossible because the Tribunal wasn’t yet accepting cases.

The Revenue’s Stand: The Department argued that even if the Tribunal was delayed, the petitioner cannot escape the mandatory pre-deposit required under Section 112(8).
The New Timeline: The government issued Notification S.O. 4220(E), setting a strict “outer date” of June 30, 2026, for filing appeals against old orders (communicated before April 1, 2026).

The Judicial Verdict: GSTAT is Now the Sole Forum

The High Court dismissed the Writ Petition in favour of the Revenue, ordering the taxpayer back to the statutory route:

1. End of the “Non-Functional” Excuse

The Court noted that the GSTAT e-Filing Portal is now live and functional, supported by a specific User Advisory that provides staggered windows for filing. Since the forum officially exists and a clear timeline (up to June 30, 2026) has been provided, the High Court will no longer keep Writ Petitions pending for issues that the Tribunal is equipped to handle.

2. Mandatory Pre-Deposit (Section 112(8))

The Court emphasized that even in a Writ, the conditions of an appeal must be met. To stop the Revenue from recovering the tax, the petitioner must satisfy the pre-deposit requirement:

Section 112(8) Requirement: A sum equal to 20% of the remaining amount of tax in dispute, in addition to the 10% already paid at the first appeal stage.
Total Burden: The taxpayer must effectively have 30% of the tax amount deposited to have their appeal heard by the Tribunal.

3. Rejection of Merits

The High Court refused to comment on whether the tax demand itself was correct. It held that once a specialized Tribunal (GSTAT) is constituted, the High Court’s role is not to act as a primary fact-finding body. The GSTAT, with its technical and judicial members, is the correct forum to decide the case on its merits.

2026 Strategic Takeaways for Taxpayers

The June 30, 2026 Deadline: If you have any pending First Appeal orders from the years 2017 to 2024, you must ensure your Second Appeal is filed on the GSTAT portal by this “outer date.” Failing to do so will result in the demand becoming final and enforceable.
Cash Flow Management: Prepare for the 20% pre-deposit. Unlike the first appeal (where you pay 10%), the second appeal is more “expensive.” Ensure your Electronic Cash Ledger is funded accordingly.
Portal Staggering: Be aware of the “staggered windows” mentioned in the User Advisory. Different states or registration types may have different opening dates for the portal to prevent system crashes.
Stay of Demand: Once you file a compliant appeal with the GSTAT (including the pre-deposit), the recovery of the remaining 70% of the tax is automatically stayed by operation of law. You do not need a separate court order for a stay.

HIGH COURT OF ORISSA

Ratan Modi

Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and Goods and Services Tax^*

Harish Tandon, CJ.
and MURAHARI SRI RAMAN, J.

W.P. (C) No. 12683 of 2025

MARCH 23, 2026

Bhabani Prasad Mohanty, Adv. for the Petitioner. Sheshadeba Das, Additional Standing Counsel for the Respondent.

ORDER

1. The petitioner has challenged the order dated 19^th March, 2024 passed by the State Tax Officer, Cuttack-I City Circle, Cuttack for the tax periods from April, 2019 to March, 2020 under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017/the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as “GST Act”), which was affirmed in an appeal by the Appellate Authority on 24^th April, 2025.

2. According to learned advocate appearing for the petitioner, although the remedy by way of an appeal is provided under Section 112 of the GST Act under the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) against the order in appeal, such remedy could not be availed as the GSTAT was not constituted and made functional and, therefore, this writ petition has been filed.

3. Learned Additional Standing Counsel appearing for the CT & GST Department corroborated the aforesaid stand of the petitioner so far as it relates to non-constitution and non-functional of the GSTAT at the relevant point, but arduously submits that it does not absolve the aggrieved person in complying with the mandate envisaged under sub-section (8) of Section 112 of the GST Act putting a restriction in filing the appeal unless the appellant paid in full, such part of the amount of tax, interest, fine, fee and penalty arising from the said order as admitted by him and a sum equivalent to ten per cent of the remaining amount of tax in dispute subject to a maximum of twenty crore rupees.

4. It would be apposite to quote the said provision, which runs thus:-

“(8) No appeal shall be filed under sub-section (1), unless the appellant has paid—

(a)

in full, such part of the amount of tax, interest, fine, fee and penalty arising from the impugned order, as is admitted by him, and

(b)

a sum, equal to ten per cent of the remaining amount of tax in dispute, in addition to the amount paid under sub-section (6) of Section 107, arising from the said order, subject to a maximum of twenty crore rupees, in relation to which the appeal has been filed.”

4.1. It has been brought to our notice that the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance issued a notification being S.O. No.4220(E) dated 17^th September, 2025 providing an opportunity to an aggrieved person to file an appeal in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 112 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act. 2017 in the following:

“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section(1) of Section 112 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (12 of 2017), the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, hereby notifies the 30^th day of June, 2026, as the date upto which appeal may be filed by the Appellate Tribunal under this Act in respect of all cases where the order sought to be appealed against is communicated to the person preferring the appeal before the 1^st day of April, 2026 and all appeals in respect of order communicated on or after 1^st April, 2026 may be filed before the Appellate Tribunal within three months from the date on which such order is communicated to the person preferring the appeal.”

4.2. Apropos the same and in order to facilitate smooth filing of an appeal before the said Tribunal, a “User Advisor for the GSTAT e-Filing Portal” is also issued by the authorities containing the timeline within which the appeal can be filed before the GSTAT in the following:

“User Advisory for the GSTAT E-Filing Portal

Please note that this advisory is only a snapshot for the entire appeal filing process. For detailed understanding and in order to have a seamless experience on the portal, users are advised to refer to the E-filing user manual, FAQs and user videos.

Important Timelines

– Staggered Filing Period (Until December 31^st, 2025):- The filing window for second appeals filing is based on staggering of the ARN/CRN offirst appeal filed in APL-01/03 before the Appellate Authority or the notice in RVN-01 issued by the Revisional Authority. The system first validates the ARN/CRN date and only upon successful validation of the date of the ARN/CRN of the APL-01/APL-03/RVN-01, the appellant can proceed further to Login/Registration. The schedule for filing is as follows:

Table

Sl. No.	Period of filing appeal in Form APL-01 or APL-03 under section 107 of the Act or issuance of notice in Form RVN-01 in terms of section 108 of the Act.	Period during which the appeal under section 112 of the Act before the GSTAT may be filed
1	Such orders of the Appellate authorities or revisional authorities sought to be appealed before the appellate tribunal where the Appeal in Form GST APL-01 or GST APL-03 or notice in Form GST RVN-01 filed or, as the case may be, issued on the common portal on or before 31.01.2022	Period commencing on 24.09.2025 and ending on 31.10.2025 or any date succeeding such date being not later than 30.06.2026
2	Such orders of the Appellate authorities or revisional authorities sought to be appealed before the appellate tribunal where the Appeal in Form GST APL-01 or GST APL-03 or notice in Form GST RVN-01 filed or, as the case may be, issued on the common portal on or after 01.02.2022 but on or before 28.02.2023	Period commencing on 01.11.2025 and ending on 30.11.2025 or any date succeeding such date being not later than 30.06.2026
3	Such orders of the Appellate authorities or revisional authorities sought to be appealed before the appellate tribunal where the Appeal in Form GST APL-01 or GST APL-03 or notice in Form GST RVN-01 filed or, as the case may be issued on the common portal on or after 01.03.2023 but on or before 31.01.2024	Period commencing on 01.12.2025 and ending on 31.12.2025 or any date succeeding such date being not later than 30.06.2026
4	Such orders of the Appellate authorities or revisional authorities sought to be appealed before the appellate tribunal where the Appeal in Form GST APL-01 or GST APL-03 or notice in Form CST RVN-01 filed or, as the case may be, issued on the common portal on or after 01.02.2024 but on or before 31.05.2024	Period commencing on 01.01.2026 and ending on 31.01.2026 or any date succeeding such date being not later than 30.06.2026
5	Such orders of the Appellate authorities or revisional authorities sought to be appealed before the appellate tribunal where the Appeal in Form GST APL-01 or GST APL-03 or notice in Form GST RVN-01 filed or, as the case may be, issued on the common portal on or after 01.06.2024 but on or before 31.03.2026	Period commencing on 01.02.2026 or any date succeeding such date being not later than 30.06.2026

–

It may be noted that if an appeal before the GSTAT relating to any ARN/CRN could not be filed within the window scheduled for it, the appellant can still come on any subsequent date but before 30^th June, 2026.

–

It may further be noted that appeals before the GSTAT against any order of the appellate/revisional authority in APL-04 that has been communicated on or after 1^st April, 2026 shall have to filed before the appellate Tribunal within three months of the order of APL-04 being communicated.

–

Appeals before the GSTAT in cases where the appeal in APL-01/03 or notices in RVN-01 are not available in the GSTN system: for all the Appeals filed before the Appellate authority or notices of the Revisional authority where the ARN/CRN is not available in the GSTN system, the filing window will open from the midnight of 31^st December 2025 and will expire on June 30. 2026.

–

Thus, users are strongly advised not to hurry since more than sufficient time has been provided for filing appeals before the GSTAT wherever the orders in APL-04 have been issued on or before 31^st March 2026.

***”

4.3. It is also brought to the notice that certain modifications are made by Order dated 24.09.2025 of the President, GST Appellate Tribunal and said Order has been revoked with following Order dated 16.12.2025:

“Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Rule 123 of the aforesaid Rules (Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025), the undersigned is pleased to revoke the Order dated 24.09.2025 with effect from 18.12.2025. This revocation shall not impugn the validity of any appeals lodged pursuant to the prior order before 18.12.2025. This order is without prejudice to the powers of the Appellate Tribunal under Section 112 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.”

4.4. It is no longer res integra that the Writ Court can be approached assailing an order for which the forum of appeal is provided and the same is entertainable in the event the forum is not made functional or constituted as the person cannot be rendered remediless. Equally it is true that if conditions are attached to filing an appeal before such forum, the Writ Court shall ensure strict compliance thereof as a person cannot steal a march taking a shelter that there is no inhibition in the writ Court in entertaining the writ petition and passing an order taking departure from the said statutory provision.

5. Since the forum has already been provided in the statute, which is now made functional and the period for filing the appeal has been extended in a fragmented manner, it would not be proper for the Writ Court to keep such writ petitions pending as the dispute raised by the petitioner in the instant writ petition can be adjudicated by the said forum and, therefore, the writ petition is disposed of with the following directions:

The petitioner is directed to deposit the amount if not already deposited, as required under sub-section (8) of Section 112 of the GST Act before the GSTAT to file the appeal within the period specified in the timeline mentioned above.

II.

The petitioner, as undertaken, shall file appeal as per the timeline given in the “User Advisor for the GSTAT e-Filing Portal”.

III.

In the event the appeal is filed and the same is found to be in order as per the requirement of Section 112 of the GST Act read with relevant Rules framed thereunder, the same shall be entertained by the GSTAT.

6. This Court makes it clear that we have not expressed any opinion on the merits on the First Appellate Order. As a result of disposal of the writ petition, pending Interlocutory Application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.