[Cites 2, Cited by 0]
Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur
The India Cements Limited vs State Of Rajasthan ... on 4 February, 2026
Author: Yogendra Kumar Purohit
Bench: Yogendra Kumar Purohit
[2026:RJ-JD:6359-DB]
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
JODHPUR
D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 2450/2026
The India Cements Limited, Having Its Plant For Manufacturing
Of Cement At V And Po Wajwana, Tehsil Garhi, Banswara,
Rajasthan- Pin 327025 Through Its Authorized Representative
Mr. Chetan Kumar Mehta S/o Late Hanuman Singh Mehta, Aged
About 58 Years, Working As Vice President (Finance And
Accounts).
----Petitioner
Versus
1. State Of Rajasthan, Through Commissioner, State Goods
And Services Tax, Kar Bhawan, Jaipur.
2. Joint Commissioner, State Tax, Circle A, Banswara Kar
Bhawan, Near Police Line, Dahod Road, Banswara,
Udaipur, Rajasthan
3. Appellate Authority, Rajasthan Goods And Service Tax
Department, Kar Bhawan, Udaipur
4. Union Of India, Through The Ministry Of Finance, Through
The Finance Secretary, New Delhi.
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Vinay Kothari
For Respondent(s) : Mr. Mahaveer Bishnoi, AAG
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN MONGA
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE YOGENDRA KUMAR PUROHIT
Order
04/02/2026
1. The petitioner herein, inter alia, seeks a direction
commanding respondent No.3 to condone the delay of 48 days in
filing the appeal against the assessment order dated 06.08.2025
(Annexure-3), passed by the Joint Commissioner, whereby an
additional GST demand of Rs.1,39,38,324/- for Financial year
2023-2024 was raised on account of wrong availment of Input Tax
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Credit by the petitioner. The appeal against the said order was
filed on 23.01.2026. However, it is stated that the Appellate
Authority is not entertaining the appeal as it does not have the
power to condone the delay of 48 days in filing the appeal and
thus the same has neither been heard till date nor any formal
orders of any kind passed either way.
2. The Petitioner humbly submits that, despite exercising due
diligence and bona fide efforts to challenge the impugned order
dated 06.08.2025, it has been rendered remediless in maintaining
its statutory appeal, as the same could not be filed within the time
period prescribed under Section 107 of the Central Goods and
Services Tax Act, 2017, owing to unavoidable and exceptional
operational circumstances wholly beyond its control. The delay
occasioned is neither deliberate nor wilful, but has occurred due to
genuine administrative disruptions arising from a series of
systemic transitions undertaken by the Petitioner.
2.1. The Petitioner was acquired by Ultratech Cement Ltd./Aditya
Birla Group on 24.12.2024, resulting in organizational
restructuring and changes in management and administrative
authorities, which materially impacted the handling of statutory
compliances. Thereafter, with effect from 01.08.2025, the
Petitioner undertook a large-scale operational transition whereby
its accounts, bill processing, GST compliances, and allied financial
functions relating to its Banswara Plant were migrated to Ultratech
Knowledge Service Centre (UKSC), Pune. This transition involved
significant restructuring of workflows, revision of access
permissions, changes in compliance-tracking systems, and
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migration of GST portal credentials and departmental alerts to
newly designated official email IDs.
2.2 Simultaneously, the migration of data from legacy systems to
newly issued laptops and secured servers resulted in delayed
access to critical records, including the impugned order, leading to
an inadvertent oversight of the statutory appeal timeline. It is,
therefore, respectfully submitted that the cumulative effect of the
aforesaid bona fide and unavoidable transitional and
administrative constraints caused the unintentional delay, without
any negligence, inaction, or lack of due diligence on the part of
the Petitioner, and accordingly warrants condonation of delay in
the interest of justice.
3. In the aforesaid backdrop, we have heard the learned
counsels for the parties and perused the record.
4. Learned Counsel for the petitioner, relying on the various
Division Bench judgments of this very Court in M/s Molana
Construction Company v. Central Goods and Service Tax
Department & Ors1, Man Singh Tanwar v. Commissioner,
Central goods and Services Tax Department & Ors. 2, RPC
PSIPL JV Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors 3 and RPC PSIPL JV
Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors4 argues that sufficient cause of
delay in filing the appeal due to circumstances beyond control has
been shown and thus appeal be directed to be considered on
merits after condoning the delay by this court.
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5. Learned counsel for the respondents opposes the above
submission and contends that the assessment order has rightly
been passed, appeal is now barred by limitation.
6. Having heard, as above, it transpires that while it is true that
the Appellate Authority is bound by the statutory provisions of
limitation provided under Section 107 of the RGST Act, however,
considering the reasons owing to which the petitioner could not
submit its appeal within the stipulated time, being beyond its
control, non- adjudication of appeal on merits would cause grave
injury and prejudice to the petitioner.
7. In the judgments cited above, this court, while allowing the
writ petitions, have issued directions to entertain the appeal on
merits.
8. In the premise, following the same view as already taken by
various Coordinate Benches of this Court, ibid, with which we are
in agreement, we allow the present writ petition to the extent of
condoning the delay of 48 days in filing of the appeal by the
petitioner.
9. Accordingly, the Appellate Authority is directed to entertain
the appeal of the petitioner and adjudicate the appeal on merits.
10. Stay petition and all pending applications, if any, stand
disposed of.
(YOGENDRA KUMAR PUROHIT),J (ARUN MONGA),J
9-Ishan/-
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