"An appeal to the Appellate Authority cannot be filed manually under any circumstances." Comment on the validity of the above statement with reference to GST law.

The Statement is not correct. Facility for filing appeal manually to Appellate Authority in certain specified circumstances [Rules 108(1) and 109(1) amended] An appeal against any decision or order passed by an adjudicating authority to Appellate Authority can be filed either: (i) by the aggrieved person (taxpayer) [Section 107(1) read with rule 108] or (ii) by the Department [Section 107(2) read with rule 109]. Proviso have been inserted to each rule 108(1) and rule 109(1) to provide as follows: An appeal to the Appellate Authority may be filed manually in GST APL-01 (in case of appeal by aggrieved person) or GST APL-03 (in case of appeal by Department), along with the relevant documents, only if (i) the Commissioner has so notified, or (ii) the same cannot be filed electronically due to non-availability of the decision or order to be appealed against on the common portal, and in such case, a provisional acknowledgement shall be issued to the appellant immediately. [Effective from 04.08.2023] [Notification No. 38/2023 CT dated 04.08.2023]