M/S.Yaseen Khan vs. State Of Orissa
Held
The Court did not decide on the merits of the petitioner's grievance regarding the tax rate differential. Instead, the Court allowed the petitioner's request to withdraw the writ petition. The petitioner was granted liberty to approach the State Government to address their grievances. Therefore, no finding was made on the legal issues raised, and the operative direction was to permit withdrawal and liberty to approach the State Government. No specific sections of the GST Act were discussed in relation to the merits of the case.
Facts
The petitioner filed a writ petition challenging the levy of tax at a higher rate under GST compared to the Central Sales Tax (CST) that was applicable at the time of auction. The petitioner contended that the tax rate increased from 2% under CST to 18% under GST. During the pendency of the writ petition, the petitioner's contract was terminated. The petitioner then sought permission to withdraw the writ petition to approach the State Government with their grievances.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioner is liable to be levied tax at the higher rate of 18% under GST when the applicable rate at the time of auction was 2% under CST. Petitioner's contention: The petitioner argued that they should not be subjected to a higher tax rate under GST than what was applicable under CST at the time of the auction. The petitioner did not rely on any specific provisions, circulars, or precedents in the recorded arguments. Revenue/State's contention: The State-opposite party and opposite party no. 2 (presumably the authority levying the tax) were represented, but their specific contentions regarding the tax rate differential or the applicability of GST are not recorded in the judgment.
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
W.P.(C) No. 11502 of 2017 04.09.2017 Heard Sri S.K. Dalai, learned counsel for the petitioner as well as Sri P.K. Muduli, lea rned Additional Government Advocate for the State-opposite party and Sri S.K. Pattnaik, learne d Senior Counsel appearing along with Sri P.K. Patnaik, learned counsel for opposite party no.
The grievance of the petitioner is that at the time of auction, the Central Sales Tax (C ST) was only 2% whereas after coming into force the GST, the Tax would now be 18%. He is thus stated that the petitioner should not be levied higher rate of tax. It is also contended that during pendency of the writ petition, the contract of the petitioner has been terminated. At t his stage, learned counsel for the petitioner states that the petitioner may be permitted to a pproach the State Government with regard to his grievances made in this writ petition. Prayer is allowed. The petitioner is permitted to withdraw this writ petition with liberty to approach the State Government with regard to his grievances made in this writ petition. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of as withdrawn.
The judgment continues below.
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Reproduced from the public record of the Orissa High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.