Section 108: The Revisional Authority and Its Four Bars

Section 108 explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.

A separate route by which an order can be reopened — not on appeal, and not by the officer who passed it. Its limits are as important as its scope.

Section 108(1): subject to s.121 and the rules, the Revisional Authority may, on his own motion, upon information received, or on request from the Commissioner of State or Union territory tax, call for and examine the record of any proceedings, and if he considers that a decision or order passed by an officer subordinate to him is erroneous in so far as it is prejudicial to the interest of revenue and is illegal or improper or has not taken into account certain material facts — whether available at the time of the order or not, or in consequence of an observation by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India — he may, if necessary, stay the operation of the order, and, after giving the person concerned an opportunity of being heard and making further inquiry, pass such order as he thinks just and proper, including enhancing or modifying or annulling it.

The conditions in sub-section (1)

A subordinate officer's order. The Revisional Authority revises orders of officers subordinate to him.

Erroneous and prejudicial to the interest of revenue. Both. An order that is erroneous but not prejudicial to revenue — one that over-taxed the assessee — is not within the sub-section, which is directed at revenue protection.

And one of three further limbs:

• illegal or improper; or
• has not taken into account certain material facts, whether available at the time of the order or not; or
• in consequence of an observation by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The second limb is notably wide. Material facts not available when the order was passed can found a revision — so a revision is not confined to errors apparent from the record at the time.

The CAG limb is the origin of many revisions in practice: an audit observation on a completed assessment feeds a revision proposal.

Protections built in: an opportunity of being heard to the person concerned, before any order.

The four bars in sub-section (2)

The Revisional Authority shall not exercise the power where:

(a) The order has been subject to an appeal under s.107, s.112, s.117 or s.118. So an order already appealed — by either side — is outside the revisional power.

(b) The period specified under s.107(2) has not yet expired, or more than three years have expired after the passing of the decision or order sought to be revised.

Two limits in one clause: a floor — the department's own six-month review window must run out first — and a ceiling of three years from the order.

(c) The order has already been taken for revision under this section at an earlier stage. One revision only.

(d) The order has been passed in exercise of the powers under sub-section (1). A revisional order cannot itself be revised.

The proviso: points not raised and decided in appeal

"Provided that the Revisional Authority may pass an order under sub-section (1) on any point which has not been raised and decided in an appeal referred to in clause (a) of sub-section (2), before the expiry of a period of one year from the date of the order in such appeal or before the expiry of a period of three years referred to in clause (b) of that sub-section, whichever is later."

This substantially qualifies bar (a).

What it permits: revision of a point not raised and decided in the appeal, even though the order was appealed.

The time for it: the later of —

• one year from the date of the appellate order; or
• three years from the original order.

"Whichever is later" is the operative phrase. Where an appeal takes two and a half years, the one-year-from-the-appellate-order limb extends the revisional window beyond the three years from the original order.

The practical significance for a taxpayer: winning an appeal does not close every issue. Points the appeal did not decide remain open to revision for up to a year after the appellate order. So the appellate order should be read for what it did not decide, and that list diarised.

The exclusions from limitation

Section 108(4): where the order involves an issue on which the Appellate Tribunal or High Court has given a decision in other proceedings, and a further appeal against it is pending, the period between the decisions is excluded in computing the three years in clause (b), where revision proceedings were initiated by a notice under the section.

Section 108(5): where the issuance of a revisional order is stayed by a court or the Appellate Tribunal, the period of stay is excluded from the three years.

Sub-section (6): what "record" and "decision" mean

"Record" shall include all records relating to any proceedings under this Act available at the time of examination by the Revisional Authority.

"Decision" shall include intimation given by any officer lower in rank than the Revisional Authority.

Both definitions widen the power. "Available at the time of examination" means the record is not frozen as at the date of the original order — later material is part of it. And "decision" including an intimation means informal communications by lower officers are capable of revision.

Responding to a revision notice

1. Check bar (a) — has the order been appealed under s.107, s.112, s.117 or s.118? If so, the proviso is the only route, and the point must be one not raised and decided in the appeal.
2. Check bar (b) — has the s.107(2) six months expired, and are we within three years of the original order? Compute both, and check the proviso's later date where an appeal was decided.
3. Check bar (c) — was this order taken for revision before?
4. Check bar (d) — is the order sought to be revised itself a revisional order?
5. Test the "erroneous and prejudicial" condition. An order that is merely different from the view the Revisional Authority would have taken is not, without more, erroneous.
6. Address the "material facts not taken into account" limb — identify what the adjudicating authority did consider, from the order itself.
7. Ask for the hearing that sub-section (1) requires, and file written submissions at it.
8. Watch for a stay of the original order under sub-section (1) — where the original order granted a refund or credit, a stay has immediate cash consequences.

Section 108(3): every revisional order is final and binding, subject to s.113, s.117 and s.118 — so the appeal from a revisional order lies to the Tribunal, not to the first Appellate Authority. And s.112(1) expressly allows an appeal to the Tribunal against an order under s.108. Section 112 →

Key takeaways

• Section 108 allows revision of a subordinate officer's order that is erroneous and prejudicial to the interest of revenue.
• The further limb includes material facts not taken into account, whether available at the time or not, and CAG observations.
• Four bars: the order was appealed; the s.107(2) window has not expired or three years have; it was already revised; or it is a revisional order.
• The proviso allows revision of a point not raised and decided in the appeal, within one year of the appellate order or three years of the original, whichever is later.
• "Record" includes material available at the time of examination, and "decision" includes an intimation.
• Appeal from a revisional order lies to the Appellate Tribunal under s.112(1).

Read next

• Section 107(2): The Departmental Appeal and the Review Order
• Section 112: Appeal to the GSTAT and the Second Pre-Deposit
• Section 121: The Non-Appealable Decisions
• The GST Appeal Limitation Map

Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on the CGST Act as amended to 31 March 2026 (ICAI Bare Law, 12th edition).