Sections 162 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.
Four short provisions that decide where a dispute can go, what a rule can do, and how every figure in the Act is expressed.
162 — save as provided in s.117 and s.118, no civil court shall have jurisdiction to deal with or decide any question arising from or relating to anything done or purported to be done under this Act. 163 — a prescribed fee is payable where a copy of any order or document is provided on application. 164(1)–(2) — the Government may, on the Council's recommendations, make rules; 164(3) — that power includes the power to give retrospective effect, from a date not earlier than the Act's commencement; 164(4) — rules may provide that a contravention shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ₹10,000. 170 — all amounts of tax, interest, penalty, fine, refund or other sums are rounded off to the nearest rupee, with fifty paise or more rounded up and less than fifty paise ignored.
Section 162: the civil court bar, and what survives it
"Save as provided in sections 117 and 118, no civil court shall have jurisdiction to deal with or decide any question arising from or relating to anything done or purported to be done under this Act."
What is barred: a civil suit raising a question arising from anything done under the Act. So a taxpayer cannot bypass the appellate hierarchy by filing a suit.
What is expressly preserved: s.117 — the appeal to the High Court from a State Bench order on a substantial question of law; and s.118 — the appeal to the Supreme Court from a Principal Bench order, or from a High Court judgment the Court certifies fit. Section 117 →
What section 162 does not touch: the writ jurisdiction under Article 226. A High Court exercising writ jurisdiction is not a civil court deciding a suit, and the constitutional jurisdiction is not displaced by a statutory bar. That is why the writ remains available for the situations where the Act provides no appeal — the four categories in s.121, an advance ruling rejection at admission, a s.101(3) deadlock, and orders passed without jurisdiction. Choosing between appeal and writ →
"Anything done or purported to be done" is worth noting. The bar extends to acts purportedly done under the Act — so a civil suit alleging that an act was outside the Act is equally barred, and the challenge belongs in the writ jurisdiction.
Section 163: the fee for copies
"Wherever a copy of any order or document is to be provided to any person on an application made by him for that purpose, there shall be paid such fee as may be prescribed."
Where this matters in practice:
- obtaining a copy of the panchnama or the record of a search, where s.67(10) as modified allows an application to the Commissioner; Section 67(10) →
- obtaining a copy of a statement recorded under s.70;
- obtaining a certified copy of an order for an appeal, where Rule 108(3) or Rule 110(4) requires the order to be submitted because it is not on the portal;
- obtaining relied-upon documents referred to in a notice.
Note the distinction. A fee is payable for a copy provided on application. Material relied on in a notice must be supplied so that a reply can be made — that is a natural-justice requirement, not a copy request, and it should be asked for on that footing.
Section 164: the rule-making power, and its two unusual limbs
Sub-sections (1) and (2) are ordinary: the Government may, on the Council's recommendations, by notification make rules for carrying out the Act, and for all matters required or permitted to be prescribed.
Sub-section (3) is not ordinary. The power to make rules includes the power to give retrospective effect to them, from a date not earlier than the date on which the provisions of this Act come into force.
That explains several rules in this cluster:
- Rule 88B, on the manner of calculating interest, inserted by Notification No. 14/2022-CT dated 05.07.2022 with effect from 01.07.2017; Rule 88B →
- Rule 103, on the qualification of Advance Ruling Authority members, substituted by Notification No. 22/2017-CT with effect from 01.07.2017.
The practical consequence: a rule's effective date is not necessarily its notification date, and any position taken for an earlier period must be checked against the rule as it applies to that period — which may be a retrospectively inserted version.
Sub-section (4) is the other unusual limb: rules may provide that a contravention shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten thousand rupees. So a rule can carry its own penalty — up to ₹10,000 — independently of s.122 and s.125.
Section 165 allows the Board to make regulations consistent with the Act and the rules.
Section 170: rounding off
"The amount of tax, interest, penalty, fine or any other sum payable, and the amount of refund or any other sum due, under the provisions of this Act shall be rounded off to the nearest rupee and, for this purpose, where such amount contains a part of a rupee consisting of paise, then, if such part is fifty paise or more, it shall be increased to one rupee and if such part is less than fifty paise it shall be ignored."
What it covers: tax, interest, penalty, fine, any other sum payable, refunds, and any other sum due.
What it does not say: at what level the rounding happens. The section speaks of "the amount... payable" and "the amount of refund" — that is, the amount, not each line of an invoice.
The practical positions that follow:
- invoice-level tax is computed and shown as computed; Rule 46 requires the amount of tax charged to be stated, and s.33 requires it to be shown separately;
- the amount payable in the return, and the refund sanctioned, are rounded to the nearest rupee;
- a rounding difference of a rupee or two between a supplier's invoice and a recipient's GSTR-2B is a rounding artefact, not a mismatch — and it is worth saying so in a reconciliation rather than chasing it. The eight reconciliations →
Key takeaways
- Section 162 bars civil courts, preserving only s.117 and s.118 — and leaving the writ jurisdiction untouched.
- The bar extends to acts purportedly done under the Act.
- Section 163 requires a prescribed fee for a copy provided on application — distinct from relied-upon material, which must be supplied.
- Section 164(3) allows rules to be made retrospectively, from the Act's commencement.
- Section 164(4) allows a rule to carry its own penalty of up to ₹10,000.
- Section 170 rounds every amount payable or due to the nearest rupee.
Read next
- Choosing Between an Appeal and a Writ in GST
- Section 117: Appeal to the High Court and the Substantial Question of Law
- Rule 88B: How GST Interest Is Actually Computed
- Section 155: The Burden of Proof Sits on One Question Only
Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on the CGST Act as amended to 31 March 2026 (ICAI Bare Law, 12th edition). Fees prescribed under section 163 operate by rule and should be checked against the current position.