Rajasthan High Court Allows Delayed GST Appeal Relying on Earlier Coordinate Bench Decision

The Rajasthan High Court, in the matter of RPC PSIPL JV vs State of Rajasthan, once again examined the issue of delay in filing an appeal under Section 107 of the CGST/RGST Act, 2017. The assessee had approached the Court through a writ petition after its delayed appeal was not entertained by the appellate authority.

Since this is a judicial order, the focus here is on clearly summarizing the legal reasoning, relief granted, and its implications for assessees facing similar issues under the GST appellate framework.

Background of the Petition

The writ petition arose from the refusal of the GST appellate authority to entertain an appeal filed beyond the prescribed time limit under Section 107 of the CGST/RGST Act, 2017. The assessee invoked the writ jurisdiction of the Rajasthan High Court seeking relief against such non-entertainment of appeal.

During the hearing, counsel for the assessee made a specific statement regarding the challenge to the validity of Section 107(4):

  • The assessee had originally included an alternate prayer challenging the provisions of Section 107(4) of the CGST/RGST Act, 2017.
  • However, at this stage, counsel expressly stated that the assessee would not press this constitutional/validity challenge.
  • It was further requested that this issue be kept open, so that the assessee may, if required, raise such a challenge in separate or subsequent proceedings.

Accordingly, the Court proceeded without examining the constitutional validity of Section 107(4) and confined itself to the question of whether the delay in filing the GST appeal could be condoned in light of earlier precedent.

Reliance on Earlier Decision in Same Assessee’s Case

A key aspect of this judgment is that it did not arise in isolation. The Court’s attention was drawn to an earlier decision involving the same assessee:

  • In RPC PSIPL JV v. State of Rajasthan and Others (D.B. Civil Writ Petition No.7260/2025 dated 02.07.2025, unreported), a Co-ordinate Bench of the Rajasthan High Court had dealt with an identical controversy.
  • That earlier matter pertained to the same assessee, involved similar grounds, and related to Assessment Year 2018-19.
  • In that earlier decision, the Co-ordinate Bench had:
    • Entertained the writ petition,
    • Directed the appellate authority, namely the Joint Commissioner, Bikaner (State Tax), to register the assessee’s appeal and decide it on merits, and
    • Granted the assessee one month time to file the appeal, subject to deposit of late fees, penalty, and other statutory amounts required for entertaining the appeal.

The counsel for the State did not dispute this position and agreed with the submissions referring to the earlier order.

Court’s Reasoning and Approach

Once the earlier coordinate bench decision was brought to the notice of the Court, the present Bench adopted the following approach: