Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017 —– Refund —- The petitioners challenged the order of the Appellate Authority as well as order passed by the respondent regarding non-grant of refund. The petitioners have further prayed to sanction the refund. The ground raised by the authorities in not sanctioning the refund was that the refund applications were belatedly filed under section 54 of the Act. The court observed that both the parties agree to notification No.13/2022-Central Tax dated 05.07.2022, whereby the computation of period of limitation for filing refund application under Section 54 of the Act came to be excluded from 01.03.2020 to 28.02.2022.  

Held that:- The Hon’ble High Court directed the respondents to process refund in accordance with law along with statutory interest, if the petitioners are found eligible. The exercise shall be completed within a period of 12 weeks.