Rule 21. Documents required to accompany Form of appeal

Chapter III · Institution of appeals — Procedure

21.1 The rule

(1) Every Form of appeal required to be heard by the Appellate Tribunal shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the order appealed against in the case of an appeal against the original order passed by the adjudicating authority and where such an order has been passed in appeal or revision, there shall be a certified copy of the order passed in appeal or in revision along with the order of the original authority along with all the relevant documents including relied upon documents:

Provided that where an application filed under the direction of the Commissioner, the copy of the order appealed against shall be an attested copy instead of a certified copy.

(2) A certified copy of the decision or order appealed against along with fees as specified in sub-rule 5 of rule 110 of the Rules shall be submitted online and a final acknowledgement, shall be issued the Rules, by the GSTAT Portal.

(3) The President may further direct that in case of non-filing of the documents as specified under this Rule, the Registrar or any other authorised officer would be competent to return the specified documents or sets of documents and to receive the same back only after rectification of the defects to the satisfaction of the Registrar or any other authorised officer or the Bench as the case may be and on the return the case may be assigned a new number.

(4) The Appellate Tribunal may on its own motion direct the preparation of as many copies as may be required of all the relevant documents including relied upon documents by and at the cost of the appellant or the respondent, containing copies of such statements, papers or documents as it may consider necessary for the proper disposal of the appeal;

(5) President may by a general or special order allow attestation of the documents filed along with appeal or application or as a part of relevant documents including relied upon documents or otherwise by a gazetted officer or such other person as may be authorised by the President to attest or certify such documents or photo copies thereof; and

(6) All relevant documents including relied upon documents shall be clearly legible, duly paged, indexed and tagged firmly.

21.2 What it does

⚠️ Do not carry the CGST certified-copy case law across to this rule. A line of decisions holds that a missing certified copy in a s.107 appeal is a curable technical defect and that the appellate authority must issue a defect memo before rejecting. Those cases turn on the amendment of 26 December 2022, which removed the certified-copy requirement where the order is already on the common portal. GSTAT r.21(1) has no such carve-out — it still requires a certified copy of the order appealed against, and of the original order where the impugned order was passed in appeal or revision. The reasoning does not transfer. Authorities at Part P, P11.

Rule 21 fixes what must travel with the appeal Form: the order under challenge, in certified form, together with everything relied on. Sub-rules (1) and (2) state the obligation; (3) supplies the sanction; (4) to (6) deal with copies, attestation and physical presentation.

The sub-rule that decides cases is (3) — because a returned appeal "may be assigned a new number", and a new number raises the question of what date the appeal was presented.

21.3 Anatomy

(a) Which orders must be filed — sub-rule (1). The obligation scales with the procedural history:

The second row is the one most often short-filed. Where the challenge is to an order-in-appeal, the order-in-original is not optional background — sub-rule (1) requires it in terms.

(b) "Certified copy" is defined, and the definition is unusually generous. Rule 2(1)(f) defines a certified copy as any of three things:

1. the original copy of the order or documents received by the party;
2. a copy authenticated by the concerned department; or
3. a copy authenticated by the authorised representative of the appellant or respondent.

Limb 3 deserves attention. The appellant's own advocate or chartered accountant, acting as authorised representative under s.116, may authenticate the copy. A practitioner who assumes a departmental certified copy must be obtained — and who delays filing while chasing one — is reading a requirement into r.21 that r.2(1)(f) does not impose.

What is not a certified copy is a copy the party has simply self-attested in his own name without being, or acting through, an authorised representative.

(c) The proviso — departmental applications. Where the application is filed under the direction of the Commissioner, an attested copy suffices in place of a certified copy. This is a relaxation for the revenue side and does not travel to a taxpayer's appeal.

(d) Sub-rule (2) — and the cross-reference that needs care. Sub-rule (2) requires the certified copy and the fees to be submitted online, with a final acknowledgement issued by the GSTAT Portal.

The fee reference is to "sub-rule 5 of rule 110 of the Rules". Under r.2(1)(p), "Rules" means the CGST/SGST/UTGST Rules, 2017 — not these Rules. The pointer is therefore to rule 110(5) of the CGST Rules, 2017, not to r.110 of the GSTAT Rules (which is Making of entries by Court officer and has nothing to do with fees). Anyone citing "rule 110" without naming the instrument will mislead the Bench and themselves.

Drafting note. Sub-rule (2) reads "a final acknowledgement, shall be issued the Rules, by the GSTAT Portal" — words appear to have dropped out in the notification. The sense is that the Portal issues the final acknowledgement. The defect is in the Gazette text; it is reproduced here as notified rather than silently corrected.

What CGST rule 110(5) actually charges. The fee is ₹1,000 for every ₹1 lakh of tax or input tax credit involved, or of the difference in tax or input tax credit involved, or of the fine, fee or penalty determined in the order appealed against, subject to a maximum of ₹25,000 and a minimum of ₹5,000; and a flat ₹5,000 where the order appealed against involves no demand of tax, interest, fine, fee or penalty. The minimum and the no-demand proviso were inserted by Notification 13/2025-CT dated 17 September 2025, w.e.f. 22 September 2025. The same sub-rule prices restoration of an appeal on that scale; rectification carries no fee (CGST r.110(6)); and no fee is payable on a departmental filing (provisos to r.119(1) and (2) of these Rules). None of these figures comes from these Rules — the GSTAT Schedule of Fees remits the appeal fee to CGST r.110(5) in terms (item 3, "As per rule").

And what the final acknowledgement in sub-rule (2) means. The machinery is CGST r.110(4), as amended by Notification 13/2025-CT: a provisional acknowledgement issues in Part A of FORM GST APL-02A, and the final acknowledgement in Part B on removal of defects; the Explanation provides that the appeal is treated as filed only when the final acknowledgement indicating the appeal number is issued. Where the order appealed against is on the common portal, the date of the provisional acknowledgement is the date of filing; where it is not, a self-certified copy must be submitted within seven days — do that and the provisional date still governs, miss it and the date of submission becomes the date of filing.

(e) Sub-rule (3) — the sanction, and the trap. Three things happen in one sentence:

1. the President may direct that the Registrar (or another authorised officer) is competent to return documents where the r.21 documents are not filed;
2. the papers come back only after the defects are rectified to the satisfaction of the Registrar, the authorised officer, or the Bench; and
3. "on the return the case may be assigned a new number."

That third limb is the practical danger of the whole rule. A new number invites the argument that the appeal was instituted afresh on the later date. The Rules do not say that rectification relates back to the original presentation, and r.19 — which endorses the date of presentation — is expressed for manual filings, which Notification 13/2025-CT abolished when it omitted the manual-filing provisos in CGST rr.110(1), (2) and 111(1), (2) w.e.f. 22 September 2025. Rule 19 is therefore largely spent, and the date of filing is now fixed by CGST r.110(4) on the acknowledgement machinery described in (d) above.

The defensive practice is therefore: do not create the occasion for a return. Where a return has already happened, rectify immediately, keep the acknowledgement of the original submission generated under sub-rule (2), and put the original presentation date on record when the renumbered appeal is listed, rather than waiting for limitation to be raised.

(f) Sub-rule (4) — copies at the party's cost. The Tribunal may, suo motu, direct that as many copies as it requires be prepared at the cost of the appellant or the respondent. Note the direction can fall on either side, and it is not conditional on any default.

(g) Sub-rule (5) — an alternative attestation route. The President may, by general or special order, allow attestation by a gazetted officer or other authorised person. This is an enabling power: it operates only when such an order is in force. Check for a current general order before relying on it; absent one, r.2(1)(f) governs.

(h) Sub-rule (6) — presentation. Legible, paged, indexed, firmly tagged. Read with r.20(2), which requires double spacing on A4, paging, indexing and firm tagging in a separate folder. These are the requirements the Registry can see at a glance, and therefore the ones that generate scrutiny objections under r.24 fastest.

21.4 In practice

Facts. Meridian Alloys Pvt Ltd is appealing an order-in-appeal dated 4 May 2026, communicated 15 May 2026, which upheld an order-in-original of 12 September 2025 raising tax of ₹1.8 crore with penalty. The appeal is to be filed on the GSTAT Portal.

What must accompany the Form:

1. Certified copy of the order-in-appeal of 4 May 2026 — the order under challenge. The company holds the copy communicated to it, which is itself a certified copy within limb 1 of r.2(1)(f). No departmental application is needed.
2. Certified copy of the order-in-original of 12 September 2025 — required by sub-rule (1) because the impugned order was passed in appeal. This is the item most often omitted.
3. All relevant documents including relied upon documents — the show cause notice, the reply, the documents relied on in the SCN, and the evidence filed before the adjudicating authority and the appellate authority.
4. Fee under CGST r.110(5), paid online, with the Portal's final acknowledgement retained (sub-rule (2)).

Presentation: every document legible, paged, indexed, tagged; grounds double-spaced on A4 under r.20(1) and (2); Form signed and verified under r.20(3) and r.22.

Separately, and not under this rule: pre-deposit under s.112(8) and limitation under s.112(1) computed through r.3 — on these facts, Monday 17 August 2026 (worked at Rule 3, §3.4). Rule 21 compliance does not save a late or under-deposited appeal.

If the Registry returns the papers for want of the order-in-original: rectify and re-submit at once; retain the sub-rule (2) acknowledgement of the original submission; and if a new number is assigned under sub-rule (3), place the original presentation date on record at the first listing.

21.5 Checklist — documents accompanying the appeal

The orders

• ☐ Certified copy of the order appealed against (r.21(1))
• ☐ Where that order was passed in appeal or revision — certified copy of the order of the original authority as well (r.21(1))
• ☐ Each copy qualifies as certified under r.2(1)(f) — original received by the party, or authenticated by the department, or authenticated by the authorised representative
• ☐ Departmental application under the Commissioner's direction? attested copy is enough (proviso to r.21(1))

The record

• ☐ All relevant documents including relied upon documents assembled (r.21(1))
• ☐ Show cause notice, reply, and the documents relied on in the notice included
• ☐ Evidence filed before the adjudicating and appellate authorities included

Fee and submission

• ☐ Fee computed under CGST rule 110(5) — the CGST Rules, not these Rules (r.21(2) read with r.2(1)(p))
• ☐ Certified copy and fee submitted online on the GSTAT Portal (r.21(2))
• ☐ Final acknowledgement from the Portal downloaded and filed — this is the proof of the original presentation date if the papers are later returned

Presentation (r.21(6) with r.20)

• ☐ Every page clearly legible
• ☐ Paged consecutively
• ☐ Indexed
• ☐ Tagged firmly, in a separate folder (r.20(2))
• ☐ Grounds typed in double spacing on A4 (r.20(1), (2))
• ☐ Form signed and verified, documents certified as true copies (r.20(3), r.22)

Before you file — not this rule, but fatal

• ☐ Limitation computed under s.112(1) with r.3
• ☐ Pre-deposit under s.112(8) paid and evidenced
• ☐ One appeal per aggrieved person; no joint or common appeals (r.18(3)(b))
• ☐ Where the order-in-appeal covers more than one order-in-original, as many Forms as there are orders-in-original (r.18(3)(a))

21.6 Where it goes wrong

21.7 Reads with

• r.2(1)(f) — definition of certified copy; r.2(1)(p) — definition of Rules
• r.18 — filing of appeals; one appeal per person; multiple orders-in-original
• r.20 — contents of the Form; double spacing, paging, indexing, tagging, verification
• r.22 — endorsement and verification
• r.24 — endorsement and scrutiny; where a r.21 defect surfaces
• r.25 — registration of admitted appeals
• r.30 — procedure on production of defaced, torn or damaged documents
• r.32 — rejection or amendment of the Form of appeal
• r.23 — translation of documents, where any relied-upon document is not in English
• CGST rule 110(5) — the fee (₹1,000 per ₹1 lakh, max ₹25,000, min ₹5,000; ₹5,000 flat where there is no demand); CGST rule 110(6) — no fee on a rectification application
• CGST rule 110(4) — provisional and final acknowledgement in FORM GST APL-02A, and what "date of filing" means; Notification 13/2025-CT — manual filing omitted w.e.f. 22 September 2025
• s.112 CGST Act — limitation, condonation, pre-deposit
• GSTAT Portal — mode of submission and the final acknowledgement

21.8 In one line

Both orders, certified — and your authorised representative can do the certifying — every relied-upon document, the CGST rule 110(5) fee, and the Portal acknowledgement kept safe, because a returned appeal comes back with a new number.