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Order-in-Appeal Is Binding Until Reversed: Telangana High Court Quashes a GST Refund Rejection Founded on a Department's Mere Decision to Appeal

A GST refund of Rs. 19.33 crore, consequential to an appellate order that had already set aside the underlying demand, was rejected because the Department had internally decided the appellate order was 'not legal and proper' and intended to challenge it before the GST Appellate Tribunal — an appeal it had not yet even filed. The Telangana High Court held that an Order-in-Appeal remains binding under Section 107(16) of the CGST Act until actually stayed, modified or set aside, and that a refund can be withheld pending further proceedings only through the specific mechanism of Section 54(11), not by administrative fiat.