file GSTR 9 and 9C without late fees till 12th Feb: Rajasthan high court

BIG Relief Direction to file GSTR 9 and 9C without late fees till 12th Feb by Hon’ble Rajasthan High Court in PIL filed by TBA, JODHPUR vs UOl

In PIL No 1805/2020 Adv. Sanjay Jhanwar, Adv Rahul Lakhwani and Adv Prateek Gattani appearing for the Petitioner apprised the Court regarding technical glitches being faced by the taxpayers in the filing of GSTR 9/9C on the GSTN portal. 

The counsels also informed the court regarding new ways of extension of the date by CBIC through its twitter handle.

The court after taking into consideration screenshots submitted by the Petitioner regarding the unsuccessful attempts of the tax professionals time and again during the extended period was satisfied that the GSTN portal does not have the requisite capacity to handle the filing of pending returns within the deadline. 

Even according to data submitted by the counsel of Union of India, the portal at its best day accepted about 2,00,0000 returns whereas pending returns as of 1.30 PM on 5th Feb are about approx 30 lacs.

Keeping the bottleneck of the server capacity of GSTN, the division bench of Hon’ble Rajasthan High Court comprising of Hon’ble Chief Justice Inderjit Mahanty and Hon’ble Justice Pushpendra Singh Bhati directed the responders to file a detailed reply by 12th Feb 2020 about their preparedness and GSTN capacity. They also directed to accept GSTR 9 AND GSTR 9C returns without charging any late fees till 12th Feb 2020. 

It is interesting to note that in the hearing at 1st instance today in morning, the court asked the Respondents to seek instructions whether the Respondents are ready to accept the return through email, by today which in the post-lunch hearing at 2 PM was declined by the Respondents counsel at the instructions of the Union of India. The PIL was strongly opposed by the Counsel of Union of India and State of Rajasthan on the ground that why the taxpayers are waiting for the last date for filing of the return. The High Court turned down the arguments of UOI on the basis that it is a legal right of the taxpayers to file return up till the last date. Further, the advocate of the Petitioner Association Mr. Sanjay Jhanwar demonstrated various instances of the technical difficulties as faced by the taxpayers through various screenshots up to 04th Feb 2020 during the extended period.

Recent update:

Govt filed an SLP against this order. See the full story. The government has filed an SLP against the order of Rajasthan high court.

It is hereby informed that in response to SLP filed by the Union of India through Ministry of Finance, Tax Bar Association Jodhpur has today filed Caveat before Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.

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