The Calcutta Swimming Club And Anr vs. Union Of INDIA Through Ministry Of Finance Dept Of Revenue And Ors
Original PDF →Facts
The petitioners, The Calcutta Swimming Club & anr., filed a writ petition challenging a refund rejection order dated November 14, 2023, passed by an unspecified authority. Although a statutory appeal was available, the petitioners approached the High Court directly. The writ petition had been pending before the Court. At this stage, the petitioners sought leave to withdraw the writ petition and pursue the statutory appeal. They argued that the writ petition was filed within the statutory period for appeal and requested that the period spent before the High Court be excluded for calculating the appeal filing deadline. The respondents, Union of India & ors., represented by Mr. Banerjee, did not object to the petitioners pursuing their appellate remedy.
Held
The Court held that since the petitioners sought to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to proceed before the appellate authority, there was no fruitful purpose in retaining the matter in the list. Accordingly, liberty was granted to the petitioners to approach the appellate authority if they were so advised. The Court further directed that the period spent by the petitioners before the High Court pursuing the extraordinary remedy of a writ petition shall stand excluded. The appeal is to be decided on merits, provided it is filed within a period of 4 weeks from the date of communication of this order. The Court did not decide on the merits of the refund rejection order itself.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioners should be granted leave to withdraw the writ petition and pursue the statutory appellate remedy, considering the pendency of the writ petition before this Court. 2. Whether the period spent by the petitioners in pursuing the writ petition before this Court should be excluded for the purpose of filing the statutory appeal. Petitioner's Contention: The petitioners argued that the writ petition was filed within the statutory period for filing an appeal and therefore, they should be granted leave to approach the appellate authority. They specifically requested exemption of the period during which the writ petition was pending before the High Court. Revenue's Contention: The respondents, represented by Mr. Banerjee, did not raise any objection to the petitioners' request to file an appeal, acknowledging that the statutory remedy of appeal was available to the petitioners.
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
2025
sayandeep Sl. No. 04 Ct. No. 05 The Calcutta Swimming Club & anr. Vs. Union of India & ors.
Mr. Ankit Kanodia Ms. Megha Agarwal
….for the petitioners
Mr. Bhaskar Prasad Banerjee Mr. Abhradip Maity
…… for the CGST & CX
Challenging the refund rejection order dated 14th November, 2023, the instant writ petition has been filed. Though a statutory appeal could have been filed from such order, the petitioners by passing such statutory remedy has approached this Court. The matter has since been pending for some time before this Court. The petitioners would, however, at this stage, insist that leave may be granted for the petitioners to challenge the aforesaid order before the appellate authority. According to Mr. Kanodia, learned advocate for the petitioners, the writ petition was filed within the statutory period for filing of the appeal and as such appropriate leave should be granted to the petitioners to seek exemption of the period for which the writ petition has been pending.
Mr. Banerjee, learned advocate appears on behalf of the respondents. He does not raise any objection, as according to him, the remedy of the petitioners is in filing of an appeal.
Having heard the learned advocates appearing for the parties, I am of the view since the petitioners seek to withdraw the writ petition with liberty to proceed with the appellate authority, no fruitful purpose would be served to retain the matter in the list.
Accordingly, liberty is granted to the petitioners to approach the appellate authority, if so advised. The period spent by the petitioners before this Court pursuing the extraordinary remedy shall stand excluded and the appeal shall be decided on merits provided the appeal is filed within a period of 4 weeks from the date of communication of this order.
(Raja Basu Chowdhury, J.)
Reproduced from the public record of the Calcutta High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.