Facts of the Case:

In this case, the petitioner challenged an appellate order whereby its statutory appeal filed under Section 107 of the CGST/OGST Act was rejected on the ground of being filed in the “wrong jurisdiction.” The appeal had arisen from an Order-in-Original dated 28.01.2025 passed under Section 74 of the GST Act.

The petitioner contended that the original adjudication order was a common order covering multiple offices across India, and insofar as the Odisha jurisdiction was concerned, the appeal was correctly filed before the Bhubaneswar appellate authority. However, the appeal was rejected without proper consideration. During the proceedings before the High Court, the Department produced written instructions admitting that at the time of rejection, there was no mechanism available for transmitting appeals to the appropriate jurisdictional authority, and the petitioner had been advised to re-file the appeal.

Issue:

Whether rejection of a statutory appeal on the ground of wrong jurisdiction, without providing for its transmission to the correct appellate authority, is legally sustainable, especially when the defect is procedural and attributable to the Department’s system limitations.

Held that:

The Court held that the rejection of the appeal on the ground of wrong jurisdiction was erroneous and attributable to a procedural lapse on the part of the Department. It was observed that the Department itself admitted that, at the relevant time, there was no system in place to transfer appeals to the correct jurisdictional authority, and the petitioner was advised to re-file the appeal.

The Court treated this defect as purely procedural and not substantive. It emphasized that a litigant should not suffer due to administrative or technical deficiencies of the Department. Without entering into the merits of the dispute, the Court held that such rejection defeats the purpose of the statutory appellate remedy and results in denial of justice.

Accordingly, the impugned appellate order was set aside. The Court directed restoration of the appeal to its original file and further directed that the appeal be transmitted to the appropriate jurisdictional appellate authority within a stipulated time. The concerned appellate authority was directed to thereafter decide the matter on merits in accordance with law.

Case Name:  Life Insurance Corporation of India Ltd. Versus Commissioner CGST and Central Excise (Appeal), Bhubaneswar and others. dated 19.03.2026

To read the complete judgement 2026 Taxo.online 700