HON BLE SRI JUSTICE C. PRAVEEN KUMAR AND HON BLE SMT JUSTICE LALITHA KANNEGANTI W.P. No. 1922 of 2020 ORDER:(Per Hon ble Sri Justice C.Praveen Kumar) 1) present Writ Petition came to be filed seeking issuance of writ of Mandamus to declare inaction of Respondents to reopen portal immediately enabling Writ Petitioner to submit its GST TRAN-1 Form in GSTN Portal in terms of Section 140 of CGST and APSGST Act, 2017; or in alternative, permit Writ Petitioner to submit GST TRAN-1 manually with direction to Respondents to consider same in accordance with law. It is further pleaded that, direction may be given to Respondent no. 1 and 4 to grant refund of VAT credit of Rs.1,92,095/-, to which Writ Petitioner is entitled for. 2) facts, in issue, are that: (i) Writ Petitioner is partnership concern doing business in pulses and turmeric registered under APSGST Act 2017 and CGST Act, 2017 bearing GSTI No. 37ACSFS7596P1ZL. In short, request of Writ Petitioner is, to direct Respondents to accept his Form GST TRAN-1 enabling him to claim transitional credit of eligible taxes in respect of excess input tax credit of Rs.1,92,095/- on appointed day i.e., 01st July, 2017 in terms of Section 140(1) and (3) of 2 APSGST / CGST Act, 2017 read with Rule 117 of Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017. (ii) It is pleaded that, Writ Petitioner could not upload Form GST TRAN-1 due to technical glitches in terms of poor internet connectivity and other technical difficulties on GST common portal. It is further pleaded that, Writ Petitioner also met 1st Respondent being Nodal Officer from time-to-time and also addressed letters to concerned for allowing him to file online Form GST TRAN-1 in terms of decision of GST Tax Council and Circular, dated 03.04.2018. Writ Petitioner claims to have addressed letters to 1st Respondent on 27.12.2019, but, nothing turned out from same. Writ Petitioner placed on record number of judgments to show that, when petitioner was not able to gain access to portal due to technical difficulties or due to ignorance of usage of technology, courts permitted petitioners therein to apply manually. In other words, his plea is that, technology has been added to system for benefit and convenience of tax payers, but it should not be subservient to purpose and hence impediments, if any, should not make Writ Petitioner servants of technology. He further pleads that, authorities have time and again extended last date for claiming input credit, but, his 3 efforts to upload Form proved futile for many reasons. Hence, present Writ Petition is filed seeking manual submission of Form GST TRAN-1. 3) same is seriously opposed by learned Counsel for Respondents by placing Judgment of Division Bench of Madras High Court in P.R. Mani Electronics v. Union of India [W.P. No. 8890 of 2020]. Insofar as judgment delivered by this court is concerned, Counsel for Respondents would contend that, since Petitioner therein was illiterate, this Court permitted him to submit GST TRAN-1 manually, but, instant case stands on altogether different footing. 4) In reply, Counsel for Writ Petitioner placed on record phtostat copies of screen shots of GSTN common portal indicating efforts made by Writ Petitioner trying to submit TRAN-1 Form. 5) In order to deal with issue raised, it is to be noted that, Section 40 of SGST Act provides for transfer of amount of Value Added Tax Credit carried forward under APVAT Act, 2005 to GST regime, which reads as under:- 140. Transitional Arrangements for Input Tax Credit:- (1) registered person, other than person opting to pay tax under section 10, shall be entitled to take, in his electronic credit ledger, credit of amount of Value Added Tax carried forward in return relating to period ending with day immediately preceding 4 appointed day, furnished by him under existing law, in such manner as may be prescribed: Provided that registered person shall not be allowed to take credit in following circumstances, namely: (i) where said amount of credit is not admissible as input tax credit under this Act; or (ii) where he has not furnished all returns required under existing law for period of six months immediately preceding appointed date; or (iii) where said amount of credit relates to goods manufactured and cleared under such exemption notifications as are notified by Government..... . 6) Rule 117 of SGST Rules, 2017 was introduced to provide for mode and manner in which such credit is to be carried forward. relevant portion of Rule reads as under: 117. Tax or duty credit carried forward under any existing law or on goods held in stock on appointed day: (1) Every registered person entitled to take credit of input tax under section 140 shall, within ninety days of appointed day, submit declaration electronically in Form GST TRAN-1, duly signed, on common portal specifying therein, separately, amount of input tax credit to which he is entitled under provisions of said section: Provided that Commissioner may, on recommendations of Council, extend period of ninety days by further period not exceeding ninety days..... 7) Rule 117 of SGST Rules prescribed period of 90 days from appointed day to file Form GST TRAN-1 mentioning amount of transitional input tax credit 5 claimed by registered person. Form GST TRAN-1 is to be filed electronically on common portal within time fixed in Rule initially or extended by notifications. 8) Though prescribed time of 90 days from appointed date expired on 29.09.2017, but Respondent authorities have been extending time for uploading VAT Credit in Form TRAN-1 from time-to-time. 9) averments in affidavit filed in support of Writ Petition shows that, Writ Petitioner has been trying to upload said form, but was unsuccessful in doing so for various reasons, like poor internet connection and technical difficulties of GSTN common portal. contents of affidavit also makes it clear that Writ Petitioner met Nodal Officer from time-to-time explaining his grievances in uploading Form TRAN-1 apart from addressing letters to concerned. Therefore, argument of Standing Counsel that Writ Petitioner has not come forward with genuine reason seeking submission of application manually may not be correct. 10) In W.P. No. 3298 of 2019, similar issue came up before Division Bench of this Court for consideration. Relying upon judgments in Uninav Developers Pvt Ltd., v. Union of India & Others [2019-VIL-367-DEL], Bhargava Motors v. Union of India [2019 SCC Online Del 8474-2019- VIL-218-DEL], Kusum Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. V. Union of India 6 [WP (C) 7423/2019] and Sanko Gosei Technology India Pvt. Ltd. V. Union of India & Others [WP(C)7335/2019] 2019-VIL-341-DEL], Court disposed of writ petition, on 13.08.2019, directing respondents to either open portal so as to enable petitioner to again file Form GST TRAN-1 electronically or in alternative, accept Form GST TRAN-1 presented manually by fixing cut of date and process claim in accordance with law. 11) Judgment delivered in W.P. No. 3298 of 2019 was followed by another Division Bench in W.P. No. 15769 of 2019, to which one of us was party. 12) Having regard to judgments referred to above, this Writ Petition is disposed of in terms thereof directing respondents concerned to permit Writ Petitioner to submit GST TRAN-1 Form electronically or, in alternative, manually, by fixing cut off date, within period of 30 days from date of receipt of judgment, in which event, same may be dealt with, in accordance with law. No order as to costs. 13) Consequently, miscellaneous petitions pending, if any, shall stand closed. JUSTICE C.PRAVEEN KUMAR JUSTICE LALITHA KANNEGANTI Date: 13.08.2020 SM. 7 HON BLE SRI JUSTICE C. PRAVEEN KUMAR AND HON BLE SMT JUSTICE LALITHA KANNEGANTI W.P. No. 1922 of 2020 (Per Hon ble Sri Justice C.Praveen Kumar) SM Dt. 13.08.2020. G K Exim v. Deputy Commissioner