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4. Learned Counsel for the petitioner points out that in the present case, the eligibility of the Petitioner to claim the CVD Duty credit has not been challenged by the Respondents. In order to avail transition of credit, Petitioner was required to submit a declaration in Form GST TRAN-1 on the GST Portal within the stipulated period of 90 days. Since a large number of taxpayers could not complete the process within the aforesaid period on account of technical glitches and difficulties faced by them, government extended the time period for filing TRAN-1 several times and lastly on the recommendation of the GST Council, it was extended up to 27.12.2017. Petitioner tried filing Form GST TRAN-1 on the common portal, however, the same could not be uploaded due to technical glitches. The petitioner could not avail transition of credit, presumably because of low bandwidth, given the fact that large number of assessees all over India were trying to submit the declaration in Form GST TRAN-1 before the last date.

7. Mr. Amit Bansal, learned senior standing counsel for GST submits that the petitioner had not furnished the Form GST TRAN-1 on time and had taken the plea of technical glitches/errors, it therefore cannot seek extension of time on account of its own mistake. It is also stated in the counter affidavit that the petition is highly belated as it has been filed after a period of 6 months after the last communication made by the Petitioner to the department. It is further submitted that the issue of the Petitioner was deliberated upon in the 8th ITGRC meeting. In the said meeting, the Petitioner's case was not allowed for refiling of Form GST TRAN-l because no technical glitches were found in Petitioner's case. The Petitioner's case fell in the Category B1 i.e. the cases where the taxpayer received the error- 'As per GST system log, there are no evidences of error or submission/filing of TRAN-1‟. As per GST System logs, the Petitioner had not tried for Saving/Submitting/Revision of Form GST TRAN-1 and there are no evidences of system errors in the log. It has also been stated that a reasonable period of time was provided to taxpayers, keeping in view their constraints, to file as well as revise Form GST TRAN-I. The information regarding last dates for filing and revision was placed in public domain and was also given due publicity by way of press release dated 12.01.2017. Therefore, if the Petitioner failed to file the Form GST TRAN-l, the Government cannot be held responsible for such negligence and dereliction of duty on the part of the Petitioner.

11. In the present case also the Court is satisfied that the Petitioner's difficulty in filling up a correct credit amount in the TRAN-1 form is a genuine one which should not preclude him from having its claim examined by the authorities in accordance with law. A direction is accordingly issued to the Respondents to either open the portal so as to enable the Petitioner to again file TRAN-1 electronically or to accept a manually filed TRAN-1 on or before 31st May, 2019.

9. The factual position in the present case is not any different. At this juncture, it may be noted that as per Notification No. 49/2019 dated 09.10.2019 issued by CBIC, the date prescribed for filing of Form GST TRAN-1 under Rule 117 (1A) of the CGST Rules has been extended to 31.12.2019. This itself demonstrates that the Respondents recognise the fact that the registered persons were not able to upload the Form GST TRAN-1 due to the glitches in the system. It is not fair to expect that each person who may not have been able to upload the Form GST TRAN-1 should have preserved some evidence of it - such as, by taking a screen shot. Many of the registered dealers/traders come from rural/semiliterate background. They may not have had the presence of mind to create any record of their having tried, and failed, to upload the Form GST TRAN-1. They cannot be made to suffer in this background, particularly, when the systems of the Repsondents were not efficient. From the documents placed on record, it emanates that the Respondents have no cogent ground to deny the benefit of the Notification No. 49/2019 dated 09.10.2019 issued specifically to grant relief to taxpayers who faced difficulty in filing Form GST TRAN-1 due to technical glitches. Thereafter when he engaged in communication with the respondent, there was no genuine ground forthcoming except for stating that the due date for filing of Form GST TRAN-1 was over.