Procedural requirements, including limitation periods for filing rectification applications, should not defeat substantive statutory benefits granted to an assessee, as procedural provisions are intended to advance justice rather than obstruct substantive rights.

Prayer in W.P.No.14839 of 2026: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, for issuance of a Writ of Certiorari calling for the records on the files of the Respondent herein in the Order in Original No.01/2024-25- GST (Supdt) dated 22nd April 2024 issued along with the summary of the order in form GST DRC 07 No. ZD3304242434998 dated 30th April 2024 for the tax period between April 2018 to March 2020, quash the same.

Prayer in W.P.No.14841 of 2026: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, for issuance of a Writ of Certiorari calling for the records on the files of the Respondent herein in the Order in Reference No.ZD33022610528T dated 12th February 2026 issued along with the summary order in ZD330226105353X dated 12th February 2026, quash the same.

COMMON ORDER

By this common order, both these writ petitions are disposed of.

2. In W.P.No.14839 of 2026, the petitioner has challenged the impugned Order-in-Original No.01/2024-25-GST (Supdt) dated 22.04.2024. The impugned order has been passed pursuant to the proposal set out in the Show Cause Notice, and the same has been confirmed after considering the petitioner’s reply dated 05.02.2024.

3. The petitioner was issued Show Cause Notice No. 14/2023 dated 19.10.2023, wherein it was alleged that Input Tax Credit had been availed belatedly for the tax periods 2018-2019 and 2019-2020, beyond the limitation prescribed under Section 16(4). Thereafter, the impugned order came to be passed on 22.04.2024. Subsequently, in the light of the statutory intervention under Sections 16(5) and 16(6) inserted vide Finance (No.2) Act, 2024 (15 of 2024), dated 16.08.2024, which came into effect from 27.09.2024 vide Notification S.O.4253 (E), with retrospective effect from 01.07.2017, Sections 16(5) and 16(6) were introduced. To implement the same, the Central Government issued CBIC Notification No.22/2024 dated 08.10.2024 under Section 148 of the respective GST enactments. As per the said Notification, an application for rectification of the assessment is to be filed within six months from the date of issuance of the notification. The relevant portion of the notification reads as follows:

“2. The said person shall file, electronically on the common portal, within a period of six months from the date of issuance of this notification, an application for rectification of an order issued under Section 73 or section 74 or Section 107 or Section 108 of the said Act, as the case may be, confirming demand for wrong availment of input tax credit, on account of contravention of provisions of sub-section (4) of Section 16 of the said Act, but where such input tax credit is now available as per the provisions of sub-section (5) or sub-section (6) of section 16 of the said Act, and where appeal against the said order has not been filed.”

4. The petitioner filed an application for rectification only on 24.11.2025. However, the last date for filing such an application had already expired on 07.02.2025, in terms of the above notifications.

5. In this background, the second mentioned order has been passed. The said order has been impugned in W.P.14841 of 2026, whereby the application filed by the petitioner on 24.11.2025, seeking rectification of the order dated 22.04.2024, has been rejected with the following observations:-

“6. In view of the forgoing, it is prima facie observed that the rectification sought by the tax payer under Notification No.22/2024 dated 08.10.2024, in respect of OIO Reference No.ZD3304242434998 dated 30.04.2024, and filed on 24.11.2025, has been submitted beyound that prescribed time limit of six months from the date of issuance of the said Notification. Accordingly, in light of the facts discussed above, the rectification application filed by the taxpayer under Section 148 of the CGST/ TNGST Act, 2017 is not maintainable and is liable to be rejected as being barred by limitation. Hence, the application filed by M/s. Happy Unicorn Creat