Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017 —– Refund —- The petitioner challenged refund rejection order dated 04.01.2021 as well as the impugned appellate order dated 24.08.2021. The petitioner filed refund application u/s 54 on 12.10.2020 claiming refund of IGST, which was rejected on the ground that the refund application has been filed after two years from the relevant date and the certificate/declaration/list of invoice endorsed by the specified officer of the SEZ has not been appended. The respondent counsel admitted the mistake on the part of the respondents that the Circular No. 157/13/2021 - GST dated 20.07.2021 is not applicable to any other proceedings under the GST Laws except in respect of appeal which is required to be filed. The limitation would not come in the way of the petitioner.

Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court set aside the impugned order and remanded the matter back to the appellate authority to decide the appeal on merits in accordance with law, preferably within a period of 30 days.