M/S.Sreechem Resins LTD. vs. Commissioner Of Commercial Taxes,Orissa

Held

The Court noted that the Department had produced a letter withdrawing the impugned rejection order of the refund application and an order sanctioning the refund of Rs. 4.50 lakh. In light of these developments, the Court found no further order was required to be passed in the writ petition. The writ petition was disposed of with a liberty to the petitioner to revive it if the amount was not received within a week. The Court did not make any specific findings on the entitlement to interest, as the primary issue of refund had been resolved by the Department's subsequent actions.

Facts

The petitioner filed a writ petition challenging an order dated 01.10.2018, passed by the Sales Tax Officer, Assessment Unit Rajgangpur, which rejected their application for a refund of Rs. 4,50,000.00. The petitioner sought a direction for the refund of this amount along with interest. During the pendency of the writ petition, the Department produced a letter dated 30.03.2019, withdrawing the impugned rejection order. Subsequently, an order dated 02.04.2019 was passed by the CT & GST Officer, Assessment Unit, Rajgangpur, sanctioning a cash refund voucher for Rs. 4.50 lakh in favour of the petitioner-dealer.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner is entitled to a refund of Rs. 4,50,000.00 along with interest, as per the relevant provisions of the GST Act and Rules. The petitioner argued that their refund application was wrongly rejected and they are legally entitled to the refund amount. They also sought interest on the delayed refund. The Department, through its counsel, informed the Court that the impugned rejection order had been withdrawn and a refund order had been issued. No specific arguments were recorded for the Department beyond this submission.