Technical glitch cannot be the reason for non-payment of GST refund.
Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017 — Refund – The petitioner prayed for directions to the Respondents to disburse the refund amount of Rs. 50,88,42,582/- The respondent submitted that it does not dispute that the Refund Sanction Order dated 05.08.2020 has been issued and ordered to credit sum of Rs. 50,88,42,582/- in favour of the petitioner and Rs. 39,05,121/- towards the Consumer Welfare Fund. It was sanctioned online on 05.08.2020 through system. As this needed bifurcation, due to non-availability of such an option in Form RFD-05 in the system, sanctioned amount could not be credited to the petitioner as well as the Consumer Welfare Fund. The matter was taken up with the Director General, System, Chennai, on 04.02.2021, who vide e mail dated 28.04.2021 informed that the functionality to credit the sanctioned amount fully/partially to Consumer Welfare Fund is under development. The court observed that the authority agreed to credit the amount of Rs. 50,88,42,582/- in account of the petitioner and sum of Rs. 39,05,121/- in the account of the Consumer Welfare Fund. The technical glitch of there being no such module available in the software created for this purpose is the reason for nonpayment. The court further observed that this non-attendance of the issue has resulted into not only the non-payment of the refund amount, but has caused hardship for the petitioner and many others who for no fault of theirs are suffering.
Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court directed the respondent to pay the amount at the end of four weeks without fail with interest. If not paid at the end of four weeks, the rate of interest on the sum due shall be 12% on the entire sum from the due date of payment till the actual date of payment.
Technical glitch cannot be the reason for non-payment of GST refund.
Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017 — Refund – The petitioner prayed for directions to the Respondents to disburse the refund amount of Rs. 50,88,42,582/- The respondent submitted that it does not dispute that the Refund Sanction Order dated 05.08.2020 has been issued and ordered to credit sum of Rs. 50,88,42,582/- in favour of the petitioner and Rs. 39,05,121/- towards the Consumer Welfare Fund. It was sanctioned online on 05.08.2020 through system. As this needed bifurcation, due to non-availability of such an option in Form RFD-05 in the system, sanctioned amount could not be credited to the petitioner as well as the Consumer Welfare Fund. The matter was taken up with the Director General, System, Chennai, on 04.02.2021, who vide e mail dated 28.04.2021 informed that the functionality to credit the sanctioned amount fully/partially to Consumer Welfare Fund is under development. The court observed that the authority agreed to credit the amount of Rs. 50,88,42,582/- in account of the petitioner and sum of Rs. 39,05,121/- in the account of the Consumer Welfare Fund. The technical glitch of there being no such module available in the software created for this purpose is the reason for nonpayment. The court further observed that this non-attendance of the issue has resulted into not only the non-payment of the refund amount, but has caused hardship for the petitioner and many others who for no fault of theirs are suffering.
Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court directed the respondent to pay the amount at the end of four weeks without fail with interest. If not paid at the end of four weeks, the rate of interest on the sum due shall be 12% on the entire sum from the due date of payment till the actual date of payment.