The Allahabad High Court has dismissed batch of petitions challenging the central and state government orders that extended the deadlines for filing GST returns for the financial year 2017-18, along with the scrutiny and audit by tax officials. The time limit was extended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A division bench of Justices SD Singh and Donadi Ramesh passed the order on petitions filed by M/s Graziano Transmission and others. The bench held that the government possesses the authority to extend time limitations.
“The power to issue the impugned notifications existed. It is undisputed. In view of our discussion, that power was exercised both within the confines of the legislative conditions and occasioned by circumstances confronted by the legislature,” the court stated.
The bench further noted that no excessive extension of time had been granted.
“The extent to which the power may have been exercised, i.e., the length of time extension granted, would also remain outside the scope of judicial review. Suffice to note, no excessive extension of time is seen to have been granted,” the bench added.
In the order, the bench emphasized that the time limit was extended due to COVID-19 and that there was an application of mind in extending the deadlines for filing GST returns and their scrutiny by tax officials.
