Supreme Court Order on Extension of
Limitation period to Apply only in Appeal Matters
The extension of timelines
granted by Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its Order dated 27.04.2021 is applicable
in respect of any appeal which is required to be filed before Joint/ Additional
Commissioner (Appeals), Commissioner (Appeals), Appellate Authority for Advance
Ruling, Tribunal and various courts against any quasi-judicial order or where
proceeding for revision or rectification of any order is required to be
undertaken, and is not applicable to any other proceedings under GST Laws.
[Circular
No. 157/13/2021-GST Dated 20th July, 2021]
Subject: Clarification regarding extension of limitation
under GST Law in terms of Hon’ble Supreme Court’s Order dated 27.04.2021.
The Government has issued notifications under Section 168A of the CGST Act,
2017, wherein the time limit for completion of various actions, by any authority
or by any person, under the CGST Act, which falls during the specified period, has
been extended up to a specific date, subject to some exceptions as specified in
the said notifications. In this context, various representations have been received
seeking clarification regarding the cognizance for extension of limitation in terms
of Hon’ble Supreme Court Order dated 27.04.2021 in Miscellaneous Application No.
665/2021 in SMW(C) No. 3/2020 under the GST law. The issues have been examined and
to ensure uniformity in the implementation of the provisions of law across the field
formations, the Board, in exercise of its powers conferred by section 168 (1) of
the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as “CGST Act”),
hereby clarifies the issues detailed hereunder:
2.1 The extract of the Hon’ble Supreme order dated 27th April
2021 is reproduced below for reference:
“We, therefore, restore the order dated 23rd March, 2020 and in continuation
of the order dated 8th March, 2021 direct that the period(s) of limitation, as prescribed
under any general or special laws in respect of all judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings,
whether condonable or not, shall stand extended till further orders. It is further
clarified that the period from 14th March, 2021 till further orders shall also stand
excluded in computing the periods prescribed under Sections 23 (4) and 29A of the
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, Section 12A of the Commercial Courts Act,
2015 and provisos (b) and (c) of Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act,
1881 and any other laws, which prescribe period(s) of limitation for instituting
proceedings, outer limits (within which the court or tribunal can condone delay)
and termination of proceedings.
We have passed this order in exercise of our powers under Article 142 read
with Article 141 of the Constitution of India. Hence it shall be a binding order
within the meaning of Article 141 on all Courts/Tribunals and Authorities.”
2.2 The matter of extension of period of limitation under Section 168A of
the CGST Act, 2017 was deliberated in the 43rd Meeting of GST Council.
Council, while providing various relaxations in the compliances for taxpayers, also
recommended that wherever the timelines for actions have been extended by the Hon’ble
Supreme Court, the same would apply.
3. Accordingly, legal opinion was solicited regarding applicability
of the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court to the limitations of time lines under
GST Law. The matter has been examined on the basis of the legal opinion received
in the matter. The following is observed as per the legal opinion:-
(i) The extension granted by Hon’ble Supreme Court
order applies only to quasi-judicial and judicial matters relating to petitions/
application suits/ appeal all other proceedings. All other proceedings should be
understood in the nature of the earlier used expressions but can be quasi-judicial
proceedings. Hon’ble Supreme Court has stepped into to grant extensions only with
reference to judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings in the nature of appeal suit
petitions etc. and has not extended it to every action or proceeding under the CGST
Act.
(ii) For the
purpose of counting the period(s) of limitation for filing of appeals before any
appellate authority under the GST Law, the limitation stands extended till further
orders as ordered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Suo
Motu Writ Petition (Civil) 3 of 2020 vide order dated 27th April 2021. Thus, as
on date, the Orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court apply to appeals, reviews, revisions
etc., and not to original adjudication.
(iii) Various
Orders and extensions passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court would apply only to acts
and actions which are in nature of judicial, including quasi-judicial exercise of
power and discretion. Even under this category, Hon’ble Supreme Court Order, applies
only to a lis which needs to be pursued within a time
frame fixed by the respective statutes.
(iv) Wherever
proceedings are pending, judicial or quasi-judicial which requires to be heard and disposed off, cannot
come to a standstill by virtue of these extension orders. Those cases need to be
adjudicated or disposed off either physically or through
the virtual mode based on the prevailing policies and practices besides instructions
if any.
(v) The following
actions such as scrutiny of returns, issuance of summons, search, enquiry or investigations
and even consequential arrest in accordance with GST law would not be covered by
the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
(vi) As regards
issuance of show cause notice, granting time for replies and passing orders, the
present Orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court may not cover them even though they
are quasi-judicial proceedings as the same has only been made applicable to matters
relating to petitions/applications/suits, etc.
4. On the basis of the legal opinion, it is hereby clarified that various
action compliances under GST can be broadly categorised
as follows: –
(a) Proceedings
that need to be initiated or compliances that need to be done by the taxpayers–
These actions would continue to be governed only by the statutory mechanism
and time limit provided/ extensions granted under the statute itself. Various Orders
of the Hon’ble Supreme Court would not apply to the said proceedings/ compliances
on part of the taxpayers
(b) Quasi-Judicial
proceedings by tax authorities:-
The tax authorities can continue to hear and dispose off
proceedings where they are performing the functions as quasi-judicial authority.
This may interalia include disposal of application for
refund, application for revocation of cancellation of registration, adjudication
proceedings of demand notices, etc.
Similarly, appeals which are filed and are pending, can continue to be heard
and disposed off and the same will be governed by those
extensions of time granted by the statutes or notifications, if any.
(c) Appeals by
taxpayers/ tax authorities against any quasi- judicial order:-
Wherever any appeal is required to filed before Joint/ Additional Commissioner
(Appeals), Commissioner (Appeals), Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling, Tribunal
and various courts against any quasi-judicial order or where a proceeding for revision
or rectification of any order is required to be undertaken, the time line for the
same would stand extended as per the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order.
5. In other words, the extension of timelines granted by Hon’ble Supreme
Court vide its Order dated 27.04.2021 is applicable in respect of any appeal which
is required to be filed before Joint/ Additional Commissioner (Appeals), Commissioner
(Appeals), Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling, Tribunal and various courts against
any quasi-judicial order or where proceeding for revision or rectification of any
order is required to be undertaken, and is not appl icable to any other proceedings under GST Laws.
6. It is requested that suitable trade notices may be issued to publicize
the contents of this Circular.
7. Difficulty, if any, in implementation of this Circular may please be brought
to the notice of the Board.
File No:
CBIC-20006/10/2021