SR Electricals VS State of Bihar

The petitioner seeks a writ of mandamus or another appropriate writ to quash or set aside the summary best-judgment assessment orders dated September 14, 2019, and October 12, 2019, as detailed in Annexure P/2 Series, which were issued under Section 62 of the CGST Act, 2017, for the months of July 2019 and August 2019.

The petitioner is challenging the recovery notices dated 04.03.2020 issued in Form DRC-13 to Respondents No. 4 and 5 under Section 79 of the CGST Act, 2017. This recovery has been kept in abeyance based on the direction given by the Office of the Advocate General, Bihar, dated 17th March 2020. The petitioner is seeking the issuance of a writ of mandamus to direct the Respondents to refund the sum of Rs.59,810/- and any other amounts recovered from the Electronic Cash ledger of the petitioner as CGST/SGST following the assessment order dated 14.04.2019 in relation to July 2019 for FY 2019-20. Additionally, the petitioner seeks a writ of mandamus to direct the Respondents to refund the sum of Rs.4,66,750/- paid under protest by the petitioner to get his bank account functional. This payment was made on 20.03.2020 following the instructions given by the respondent for revoking the bank attachments in relation to July 2019 for FY 2019-20. Furthermore, the petitioner requests a writ of mandamus to direct the Respondents to refund the sum of Rs.4,09,546/- paid under protest by the petitioner to get his bank account functional. This payment was made on 20.03.2020 following the instructions given by the respondent for revoking the bank attachments in relation to August 2019 for FY 2019-20. Lastly, the petitioner seeks the issuance of an appropriate writ directing the respondents to adjust the amount and reassess.

The petitioner seeks a long summary concerning several issues related to the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act of 2017 and corresponding actions by the respondents. Firstly, the recovery notices dated 04.03.2020, issued in Form DRC-13 to Respondents No. 4 and 5 under Section 79 of the CGST Act, 2017, have been kept in abeyance based on the direction given by the Office of the Advocate General, Bihar, dated 17th March 2020. The petitioner requests a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to refund the sum of Rs.59,810 and any additional amounts recovered from the petitioner’s Electronic Cash Ledger as CGST/SGST after the assessment order dated 14.04.2019, relating to July 2019 for the fiscal year 2019-20. Additionally, the petitioner seeks the issuance of a writ of mandamus for the refund of Rs.4,66,750, which was paid under protest to reactivate the petitioner’s bank account. This payment was made on 20.03.2020, following the respondent’s instructions for revoking bank attachments related to July 2019 for the fiscal year 2019-20. Similarly, the petitioner requests the refund of Rs.4,09,546, paid under protest to reactivate the bank account on 20.03.2020, following the respondent’s instructions for revoking bank attachments related to August 2019 for the fiscal year 2019-20. Furthermore, the petitioner seeks a writ directing the respondents to adjust the amount and reassess considering the excess deposit against the monthly tax liability for July 2019. The petitioner has already deposited Rs.17,40,327, which includes Rs.6,71,537 each for SGST and CGST, Rs.2,500 as late fees for the delay in filing the return, and Rs.3,92,253 as IGST, against an actual liability of Rs.17,35,527. The return in Form-3B was filed with a late fine, and the respondent served a notice in DRC-07 (Ref. No. ZA100220026364G) dated 25.02.2020, for which the petitioner paid Rs.2,83,094 as interest on 17.03.2020. This amount includes Rs.36,312 as IGST, Rs.1,23,391 each for CGST and SGST for the period of May-19 to Aug-19, due to the petitioner’s late GSTR-3B filing for the same month, which the respondent had already assessed under Section 62 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The petitioner requests the issuance of an appropriate writ directing the respondents to adjust the amount and reassess, considering the excess deposit against the monthly tax liability for August 2019. The petitioner has already deposited Rs.14,00,948, including Rs.4,31,814 each for CGST and SGST.

The recovery notices dated 04.03.2020 (Annexure P/6 Series) issued in Form DRC-13 to Respondents No. 4 and 5, under Section 79 of the CGST Act, 2017, have been kept in abeyance based on the direction given by the Office of the Advocate General, Bihar, dated 17th March, 2020, and a writ of mandamus has been issued directing the Respondents to refund a sum of Rs.59,810/- and any amount recovered from the Electronic Cash ledger of the petitioner as CGST/SGST after the assessment order dated 14.04.2019 for July 2019 for F.Y. 2019-20. Another writ of mandamus directs the Respondents to refund Rs.4,66,750/- paid under protest by the petitioner on 20.03.2020 to get his bank account functional following the respondent’s instruction for revoking bank attachments for July 2019 for F.Y. 2019-20. A further writ of mandamus directs the Respondents to refund Rs.4,09,546/- paid under protest by the petitioner on 20.03.2020 to get his bank account functional following the respondent’s instruction for revoking bank attachments for August 2019 for FY. 2019-20. Additionally, an appropriate writ has been issued directing the respondents to adjust the amount and reassess considering the fact that the Petitioner deposited excess amounts against the monthly tax liability for July 2019, having already deposited Rs.17,40,327/- (including Rs.6,71,537/- as SGST, Rs.6,71,537/- as CGST, with a late fine of Rs.2500/- and Rs.2500/- as a late fee for delay in filing the return, and Rs.3,92,253/- as IGST) against an actual liability of Rs.17,35,527/-. The return in Form-3B was filed with a late fine and due to the delayed filing of GSTR-3B for July 2019, the respondent served a notice in DRC-07 Ref. No. ZA100220026364G dated 25-02-2020, which was also paid by the petitioner on 17-03-2020. This demand notice was for interest of Rs.2,83,094/- (Rs.36,312/- IGST, Rs.1,23,391/- CGST, and Rs.1,23,391/- SGST for May-19 to Aug-19) due to the petitioner’s late GSTR-3B filing for the same month, which the respondent had already assessed under section 62 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Moreover, an appropriate writ directs the respondents to adjust the amount and reassess considering the Petitioner deposited excess amounts against the monthly tax liability for August 2019, having already deposited Rs.14,00,948/- (including Rs.4,31,814/- as SGST, Rs.4,31,814/- as CGST, with a late fine of Rs.2,600/- and Rs.2,600/- as a late fee for delay in filing the return, and Rs.5,32,120/- as IGST) against an actual liability of Rs.13,95,748/-. The return in Form-3B was filed with a late fine and due to the delayed filing of GSTR-3B for August 2019, the respondent served a notice in DRC-07 Ref. No. ZA100220026364G dated 25-02-2020, which was also paid by the petitioner on 17-03-2020. This demand notice was for interest of Rs.2,83,094/- (Rs.36,312/- IGST, Rs.1,23,391/- CGST, and Rs.1,23,391/- SGST for May-19 to Aug-19) due to the petitioner’s late GSTR-3B filing for the same month, which the respondent had already assessed under section 62 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Further, an appropriate direction, including mandamus, directs the respondents to pass fresh assessment orders for the period until February 2020 if any additional liability or discrepancy is found after scrutinizing the returns filed under section 61, since the petitioner has already filed all his monthly returns and claims no outstanding liability till February 2020. Finally, appropriate directions, including the writ of mandamus, prevent the respondents from taking any coercive steps, including attachment of the petitioner’s assets until the pendency of the present writ application.

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