Bistupur, Town Jamshedpur, District East Singhbhum v. The State of Jharkhand, through the Secretary
Case Details
1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P.(T) No. 4000 of 2018 with W.P.(T) No. 4025 of 2018 Tata Steel Limited (A Company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 2013) having its Registered Office at Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400001; having its Colliery at West Bokaro Colliery, situated at Ghatotand, P.O. and P.S. Ghatotand, District Ramgarh, PIN 825314 (Jharkhand); through its Head Legal (Taxation) namely, Vikash Mittal, aged about 47 years, son of Shri H.K. Mittal, resident of 103, K.D. Flats, Road No.4, Circuit House Area, P.O. & P.S. Bistupur, Town Jamshedpur, District East Singhbhum. ....... Petitioner Versus The State of Jharkhand, through the Secretary-cum-Commissioner 1. Commercial Taxes Department, Project Building, Dhurwa, P.O. and P.S. Dhurwa, Ranchi 834 004, District Ranchi. Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Commercial Taxes 2. Department, Project Building, Dhurwa, P.O. and P.S. Dhurwa, Ranchi- 834 004, District Ranchi. (Computerization), 3. Headquarters, Project Building, Dhurwa, P.O. and P.S. Dhurwa, Ranchi 834 004, District Ranchi. 4. Division, Hazaribagh, P.O. and P.S. Hazaribagh, District Hazaribagh. 5. P.O. and P.S. Ramgarh Cantt., District Ramgarh. Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Ramgarh Circle, Ramgarh, ….. Respondents Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Administration), Hazaribagh Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, with W.P.(T) No. 1654 of 2019 with W.P. (T) No. 1655 of 2019 with W.P. (T) No. 2101 of 2019 Tyre Technocrats (I) Pvt. Limited, (a company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1956) having its Branch Office at 136/C, Park Road, Ashok Nagar, Ranchi, P.O. Doranda, P.S. Argora, District Ranchi, through its Director, Raj Taleraja, aged about 56 years, son of Shri Bhiman Das Talereja, resident of 38/2, Ambavgarh, Udaipur, P.O. and P.S. Udaipur, District Udaipur (Rajasthan). Versus Petitioner ....... The State of Jharkhand, 1. the Secretary-cum-Commissioner, through Commercial Taxes Department, Project Building, Dhurwa, P.O. and P.S. Dhurwa, Ranchi 834 004, District Ranchi. 2. Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Commercial Taxes Department, Project Building, Dhurwa, P.O. and P.S. Dhurwa, Ranchi- 834 004, District Ranchi. 2 Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Administration), Hazaribagh (Computerization), 3. Headquarters, Project Building, Dhurwa, P.O. and P.S. Dhurwa, Ranchi- 834 004, District Ranchi. 4. Division, Hazaribagh, P.O. and P.S. Hazaribagh, District Hazaribagh. 5. P.O. and P.S. Ramgarh Cantt., District Ramgarh. 6. Ramgarh, District Ramgarh. …… Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Ramgarh Circle, Ramgarh, Commercial Taxes Officer, Ramgarh Circle, Ramgarh, P.O. and P.S. Respondents .........
Legal Reasoning
CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RONGON MUKHOPADHYAY, HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK ROSHAN For the Petitioner : For the Respondents : Mr. Kavin Gulati, Sr. Advocate Mr. Sumeet Gadodia, Advocate Mrs. Shilpi Sandil Gadodia, Advocate Mr. Ritesh Kumar Gupta, Advocate Mr. Jai Prakash, AAG 1A. Mr. Yogesh Modi, AC to AAG 1A …… 16/22.06.2023 Per Deepak Roshan, J: Heard learned counsel for the parties. 2. Since all these writ applications involved common questions of facts and law, they have been heard together and disposed of by this common order. 3. Tata Steel Ltd. filed two writ petitions being W.P.(T) No. 4000 of 2018 and W.P.(T) No. 4025 of 2018 for the financial years 2012-13 and 2013-14 respectively. Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Limited filed three writ petitions being W.P.(T) No. 1654 of 2019 for the period 2013-14, W.P.(T) No. 1655 of 2019 for the period 2012-13 and W.P.(T) No. 1655 for the period 2014-15. 4.
Decision
For the sake of brevity, prayers made in each of the writ petitions are quoted hereinafter:- W.P.(T) No. 4000 of 2018 (i) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondents to permit the Petitioner to generate statutory Form ‘C’ pertaining to the Financial Year 2012-13 of a value of Rs. 4,46,19,564/- in favour of one M/s Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Limited bearing TIN 3 No. 20781901077 after permitting the Petitioner for carrying out necessary amendments in its Returns. (ii) For issuance of a further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Declaration, declaring that action of the Respondents-authorities in not permitting the Petitioner to generate statutory Form ‘C’ after carrying out necessary amendments in its Returns in favour of M/s Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Limited, is wholly arbitrary and illegal and beyond the provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for short ‘C.S.T. Act’) and Central Sales Tax (Turnover and Registration) Rules, 1957 (for short ‘C.S.T. Rules’). (iii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondent No.1-Secretary cum Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Department to pass reasoned and speaking order on the representations filed by the Petitioner by allowing the Petitioner to carry necessary amendment in its Returns and consequentially allowing the Petitioner to generate statutory Form ‘C’ for the financial year 2012-13 to be issued by it in favour of M/s. Tyre Technocrats India Pvt. Ltd. bearing TIN No. 20781901077. W.P.(T) No. 4025 of 2018 (i) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondents to permit the Petitioner to generate statutory Form ‘C’ pertaining to the Financial Year 2013-14 of a value of Rs. 13,43,61,474.89 in favour of one M/s Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Limited bearing TIN No. 20781901077 after permitting the Petitioner for carrying out necessary amendments in its Returns. (ii) For issuance of a further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Declaration, declaring that action of the Respondents-authorities in not permitting the Petitioner to generate statutory Form ‘C’ after carrying out necessary amendments in its Returns in favour of M/s Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Limited, is wholly arbitrary and illegal and beyond the provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for short ‘C.S.T. Act’) and Central Sales Tax (Turnover and Registration) Rules, 1957 (for short ‘C.S.T. Rules’). (iii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondent No.1-Secretary cum Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Department to pass reasoned and speaking order on the representations filed by the Petitioner by allowing the Petitioner to carry necessary amendment in its Returns and consequentially allowing the Petitioner to generate statutory Form ‘C’ for the financial year 2013-14 to be issued by it in favour of M/s. Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Limited bearing TIN No. 20781901077. 4 W.P.(T) No. 1654 of 2019 (i) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondents to permit the vendor of the Petitioner, namely Tata Steel Ltd, to generate statutory Form ‘C’ pertaining to the Financial Year 2013-14 of a value of Rs. 13,43,61,474.89 in favour of Petitioner, bearing TIN No. 20781901077; (ii) For issuance of a further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Declaration, declaring that action of the Respondents-authorities in not permitting the vendor of the Petitioner, namely Tata Steel Ltd to generate statutory Form ‘C’ in favour of the Petitioner M/s Tyre Technocrats (I) Pvt. Ltd and levying tax and interest to the tune of Rs. 2,74,04,679/-, is wholly arbitrary and illegal and beyond the provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for short ‘C.S.T. Act’) and Central Sales Tax (Turnover and Registration) Rules, 1957 (for short ‘C.S.T. Rules’). (iii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/direction, including writ of declaration, declaring that the action of respondent-authorities on one hand in not issuing Statutory Form ‘C’ to the vendor of the petitioner and on the other hand levying tax and interest upon the petitioner ion the sole ground of non- production of Statutory Form ‘C’ is wholly arbitrary and illegal and contrary to the mandate of the CST Act and Rules and amounts to doing a thing indirectly which it cannot do directly. (iv) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction for quashing/setting aside the Assessment Order (Annexure-6) pertaining to Assessment Year 2013-14 dated 25.03.2017 to the extent in the said Assessment Order demand has been levied towards tax and interest for non-production of Form ‘C’. W.P.(T) No. 1655 of 2019 (i) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondents to permit the vendor of the Petitioner, namely Tata Steel Ltd, to generate statutory Form ‘C’ pertaining to the Financial Year 2012-13 of a value of Rs. 4,46,19,564/- in favour of Petitioner, bearing TIN No. 20781901077; (ii) For issuance of a further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Declaration, declaring that action of the Respondents-authorities in not permitting the vendor of the Petitioner, namely Tata Steel Ltd to generate statutory Form ‘C’ in favour of the Petitioner M/s Tyre Technocrats (I) Pvt. Ltd, is wholly arbitrary and illegal and beyond the provisions of the Central Sales 5 Tax Act, 1956 (for short ‘C.S.T. Act’) and Central Sales Tax (Turnover and Registration) Rules, 1957 (for short ‘C.S.T. Rules’). (iii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/ direction, for setting aside/quashing the Revised Assessment Order relating to CST proceedings dated 19.01.2018 (Annexure-11) passed by Respondent No.5 (vide Annexures 10 and 11 respectively) wherein solely due to non-production of Statutory Form “C” by the Petitioner of a value of Rs. 4,46,19,564/-, tax @ 14% on the aforesaid transaction has been levied and further liability of interest has been imposed upon the Petitioner. (iv) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including writ of declaration, declaring that the action of Respondent-authorities on one hand not issuing Statutory Form “C” to the vendor of the Petitioner and on the other hand levying differential tax and interest upon the Petitioner on the sole ground of non-production of Statutory Form “C” is wholly arbitrary and illegal and contrary to the mandate of the C.S.T. Act and C.S.T. Rules and amounts to doing a thing indirectly which it cannot do directly. W.P.(T) No. 2101 of 2019 (i) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondents to permit the vendor of the Petitioner, namely Tata Steel Ltd, to generate statutory Form ‘C’ pertaining to the Financial Year 2014- 15 of a value of Rs. 1,32,93,203/- in favour of Petitioner, bearing TIN No. 20781901077; (ii) For issuance of a further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Declaration, declaring that action of the Respondents-authorities in not permitting the vendor of the Petitioner, namely Tata Steel Ltd to generate statutory Form ‘C’ in favour of the Petitioner M/s Tyre Technocrats (I) Pvt. Ltd, is wholly arbitrary and illegal and beyond the provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for short ‘C.S.T. Act’) and Central Sales Tax (Turnover and Registration) Rules, 1957 (for short ‘C.S.T. Rules’). (iii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/ direction, for setting aside/quashing the Assessment Order dated 09.03.2018 including Review Order dated 25.04.2018 passed by Respondent No.6 (vide Annexures 10 and 11 respectively) wherein solely due to non-production of Statutory Form “C” by the Petitioner of a value of Rs. 1,32,93,203/-, tax @ 14% on the aforesaid transaction has been levied and further liability of interest has been imposed upon the Petitioner. (iv) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including writ of declaration, declaring that the action of Respondent-authorities on one hand not 6 issuing Statutory Form “C” to the vendor of the Petitioner and on the other hand levying differential tax and interest upon the Petitioner on the sole ground of non-production of Statutory Form “C” is wholly arbitrary and illegal and contrary to the mandate of the C.S.T. Act and C.S.T. Rules and amounts to doing a thing indirectly which it cannot do directly. 5. Primary grievance of Tata Steel Ltd. in its writ petitions is that Respondent-State of Jharkhand is not permitting the Petitioner to generate statutory Form-C for financial years 2012-13 and 2013-14 by carrying out necessary amendments in its returns in favour of Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd, wherein, inadvertently, in the returns transactions pertaining to transit sale under Section 3(b) read with Section 6(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for short (‘CST Act’) have been incorrectly reflected as transactions under Section 3(a) of the CST Act. 6. Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. filed writ petitions primarily for a direction upon Respondent-State of Jharkhand to permit its vendor i.e. Tata Steel Ltd. to generate statutory Form-C for the financial years 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, as in absence of generation of such Statutory Form-C by vendor-Tata Steel Ltd., differential tax liability has been fastened upon the Petitioner- Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. and although it has sold goods to Tata Steel Ltd. admittedly at concessional rate of 2%, tax @ full rate has been demanded against the said sale by the Petitioner. 7. The instant cases were taken up for consideration by this Court on 24.01.2023 and on the said date, Mr. Kavin Gulati, Sr. Advocate referred to the recommendation dated 04.02.2017 made by jurisdictional Assessing Authority of Tata Steel Ltd. to Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Headquarters, wherein recommendation was made for permitting the Petitioner-Tata Steel Ltd. to cancel earlier generated Form-C with incorrect particulars and permit it to generate statutory Form-C with correct particulars after modification of the returns. In our order dated 24.01.2023, we requested Mr. Jai Prakash, AAG- 1A appearing on behalf of Respondent-State of Jharkhand to seek instructions as to whether State of Jharkhand is intending to act upon recommendation made by the jurisdictional Assessing Authority of Petitioner-Tata Steel Ltd. For the sake of ready reference order dated 24.01.2023 is quoted herein-under:- 7 “11/24.01.2023 During course of submission in W.P.(T) No. 4000 of 2018 learned senior counsel for the petitioner Mr. Kavin Gulati has referred to the recommendation dated 04.02.2017 made by respondent No.5 to respondent No.3, whereby the petitioner was permitted to cancel Form C which was generated with incorrect particulars. Petitioner did get opportunity to cancel the relevant Form C which were having incorrect particulars but when the petitioner sought to initiate the process of regeneration of the cancelled Form C, it was unable to generate it. Respondent no.5 once again recommended vide Annexure-11 letter dated 29.08.2017 to respondent no.3 to allow the petitioner to generate fresh Form C by permitting the petitioner to carry out amendments in its returns. However, despite the recommendations respondent authorities have not permitted the petitioner to carry out amendments in its returns and consequentially generate fresh Form C in favour of M/s. Tyre Technocrats India Pvt. Ltd. Tyre Technocrats India Pvt. Ltd. have also preferred writ petitions for consequential relief as the selling dealer. Those writ petitions are tagged to the present writ petition. Learned senior counsel for the petitioner Mr. K. Gulati, has made a request that in case respondent-Department is inclined to act upon the recommendation of Respondent No.3-Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (computerization), Headquarters, the whole lis on this issue would come to quietus without unnecessary wastage of court’s time. Learned senior counsel for the State- Mr. Jai Prakash, AAG 1A appearing in these writ applications undertakes to seek instruction in this regard. As prayed for by the learned counsel for the parties, list these cases on 13.02.2023. (Aparesh Kumar Singh, A.C.J.) (Deepak Roshan, J)” 8. During pendency of the writ applications, one supplementary affidavit was filed by Tata Steel Ltd. in W.P.(T) No. 4000 of 2018 annexing therewith Letter No. 582 dated 12.05.2023, wherein Joint Commissioner, State Tax, Headquarters requested the Project Manager T.C.S., Ranchi which manages Online Portal of Respondent –Commercial Taxes Department to allow Tata Steel Ltd. to correct its returns and thereafter to generate statutory Form-C. 9. When the matters were taken up on 26.06.2023, Mr. Jai Prakash, AAG-1A fairly submitted that in view of recommendation made by Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Headquarters permitting Tata Steel Ltd. to correct its returns and thereafter to consequentially generate statutory 8 Form-C, and, appropriate time line may be fixed by this Court so that the exercise is completed within the said time line. 10. In view of fair submissions made by Mr. Jai Prakash, AAG-1A and in view of the letter no. 582 dated 12.05.2023 issued by Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Headquarters, we dispose of the writ applications filed by Tata Steel Ltd. with a direction to Respondent-State of Jharkhand to permit Tata Steel Ltd. to amend its returns and to consequentially generate statutory Form-C which were, earlier, incorrectly generated due to incorrect particulars in returns, within a period of two months from the date of receipt of the copy of this order. Accordingly, Writ Petitions being W.P.(T) No. 4000 of 2018 and W.P.(T) No. 4025 of 2018 stand disposed of. 11. So far as writ petitions filed by Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. are concerned, prayers made in the said writ applications, particularly the prayer for directing the Respondent-State of Jharkhand to permit its vendor i.e. Tata Steel Ltd. to generate statutory Form-C already stands redressed in view of the direction given by us in foregoing paragraph. 12. However, Mr. Sumeet Gadodia, learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner- Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd., during the course of argument, brought to our notice that due to non-generation of statutory Form-C, assessment orders were passed against the Petitioner- Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. and liability towards differential tax has been fastened upon it. It has been prayed that since the matter has been resolved by the State of Jharkhand and issuance of statutory Form-C has direct bearing upon the assessment orders passed in the case of the Petitioner- Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd., assessment orders may be set aside and the matters may be remanded to the Assessing Officer so that Petitioner- Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. can produce statutory Form-C received by it from Tata Steel Ltd. and, accordingly, revised assessment orders may be passed by the Assessing Authority. 13. We are in agreement with the submissions made by Mr. Gadodia, counsel appearing for the Petitioner- Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. and we, accordingly, set aside the assessment order dated 25.03.2017 (Annexure-6) in W.P.(T) No. 1654 of 2019), revised assessment order dated 19.01.2018 (Annexure-11) in W.P.(T) No. 1655 of 2019 and assessment order dated 9 09.03.2018 including review order dated 25.04.2018 (Annexures 10 and 11 respectively in W.P.(T) No. 2101 of 2019 and remand the matters back to the jurisdictional Assessing Authority of the Petitioner-Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd. 14. Petitioner-Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd., on receipt of statutory Form-C from Tata Steel Ltd., shall produce the same before its Assessing Authority within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of Form-C and, thereafter, the Assessing authority shall proceed to pass revised assessment orders after taking into consideration said statutory Form-C, for want of which, differential tax liability was fastened upon the Petitioner- Tyre Technocrats Pvt. Ltd., within a further period of three months. 15. Accordingly, all the writ applications are disposed of. Pending, I.As., if any, are also disposed of. (Rongon Mukhopadhyay, J) (Deepak Roshan, J) Amardeep/