Availability of Alternative Remedy: Writ Petition Dismissed as GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) becomes Functional; Assessee Directed to File Statutory Appeal and Make Pre-Deposit

ISSUE

Whether a Writ Petition is maintainable against an appellate order on the ground that the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) is not functional, especially when the Government has subsequently notified the Tribunal’s constitution and extended the limitation period for filing appeals.

FACTS

The Dispute: The assessee’s first appeal against the Superintendent’s order was rejected by the Appellate Authority.
The Writ Petition: The assessee approached the High Court challenging the rejection, contending that although Section 112 provides for a second appeal to the GSTAT, the remedy was ineffective/illusory because the Tribunal had not been constituted or made functional.
The Argument: The petitioner argued that they cannot be rendered remediless due to the State’s failure to set up the forum, and thus the High Court should entertain the writ.

HELD

Principle of Remedy: The Court acknowledged that a Writ Court can be approached if a statutory appellate forum is not functional, as a citizen cannot be left without a legal remedy.
Change in Circumstance: However, the Court noted that the GSTAT has now been made functional.
Extended Timelines: The Government has issued notifications extending the period for filing appeals in a “fragmented/staggered manner” (referring to the new windows opened for past cases).
Writ Not Proper: Since the statutory forum (GSTAT) is now available and the limitation period has been extended to accommodate past cases, it is no longer proper for the High Court to keep such writ petitions pending. The dispute involves questions of fact that should be adjudicated by the Tribunal.
Direction: The writ petition was disposed of. The assessee was directed to avail the statutory remedy of appeal before the GSTAT and strictly comply with the pre-deposit requirements.
Verdict: [In Favour of Revenue / Writ Disposed Of]

KEY TAKEAWAYS

GSTAT is Live: The “non-functional Tribunal” defense is no longer valid for filing Writ Petitions. Courts are now systematically relegating taxpayers back to the Tribunal.
Staggered/Fragmented Filing: The Government has notified specific windows (based on the date of the Order-in-Appeal) for filing appeals to the GSTAT for old cases. This ensures that cases from 2017-2024 are not time-barred.
Mandatory Pre-Deposit: You cannot bypass the Section 112(8) pre-deposit (usually 20% of the disputed tax, in addition to the 10% paid at the first appeal stage) by filing a Writ. The High Court will insist on this deposit before the Tribunal hears the case.

HIGH COURT OF ORISSA

SNM Business (P.) Ltd.

Additional Commissioner of State Tax (Appeal), Bhubaneswar^*

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

W. P. (C) No. 32335 of 2025

DECEMBER 4, 2025

Madhab Lal Agarwal, Adv. for the Petitioner. B.A. Prusty, Senior Standing Counsel for the Respondent.

ORDER

1. The petitioner has challenged the order dated 21^st February, 2025 passed by the Superintendent, Balasore I Range, Balasore for the tax periods from April, 2020 to March, 2021 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 rejected in an appeal by the Appellate Authority on 12^th September, 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 is not available as the GSTAT has not been constituted and made functional and, therefore, an aggrieved person cannot be rendered remediless.

3. Learned Senior Standing Counsel appearing for the CGST & CX Department corroborated the aforesaid stand of the petitioner so far as it relates to non-constitution and non-functional of the GSTAT, 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 eFiling 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 of first 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 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.