Key Pointers:

• Appeals have been rejected by some Commissioner (appeal) for non-compliance of pre-deposit requirement as mandated under Section 35 F of the Central Excise Act 1944(CEA) and Section 83 of Finance Act 1994 read with Section 35F of the CEA, where such payments have been made through Form GST DRC-03 on common GST portal, by holding that it is not a prescribed method of payment of such pre-deposit.
• Under GST Act also Form GST DRC-03 is not prescribed mode for payment of pre-deposit as it is prescribed for payment of tax, interest, penalty under sub section (5) and (8) of both Section 73 and 74, Section 129)1) of CGST Act, 2017. Further in connection with appeal under Section 107 of the CGST Act, 2017, Rue 108(1) of CGST Rules, 2017 provides Form GST APL-01 of filing an appeal with option of payment of admitted amount and pre-deposit through electronic cash/credit ledger. 
• It is however settled that pre-deposit as a requirement for exercising the right to appeal neither is in the nature of duty nor can be treated as arrears under the existing law and hence cannot be said to be covered under transactional provisions sub section (6)(a),(7)(a) and (8)(a) of Section 142 of CGST Act, 2017 
• There exist a dedicated CBIC-GST integrated portal, http://cbic-gst.gov.in {Boards circular no 1070/3/2019-CXdated 24 June ,2019} which should only be utilized for making pre-deposit under Central Excise Act, 1944 and Finance Act, 1994.