Haldia Nirman Projects Private Limited And Anr. vs. The Additional Director General And Ors.
Original PDF →Facts
Haldia Nirman Projects Private Limited & Anr. (petitioners) filed a writ petition challenging an order in original dated February 7, 2023, passed by the Commissioner of CGST. The petitioners argued that the order was appealable under the statute. The respondents included the Additional Director General, Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence, Kolkata Zonal Unit & Ors., and the Union of India. The court noted that the impugned order was detailed, lengthy (65 pages), considered judgments, and contained discussions. The court found the order was neither without jurisdiction nor in violation of natural justice, nor a non-speaking order.
Held
The Court held that the impugned order in original dated February 7, 2023, passed by the Commissioner of CGST, is an appellable order under the statute. The Court found that the order was not without jurisdiction, did not violate the principles of natural justice, and was not a non-speaking order. Instead, it was detailed, lengthy, and contained discussions and consideration of judgments. The Court distinguished between insufficiency of reasons and no reasons at all, stating that while the petitioner might not be satisfied, the order contained reasons. Therefore, the Court was not inclined to entertain the writ petition. The ratio decidendi is that writ petitions are generally not entertained when an alternative statutory remedy of appeal is available and the order challenged is not demonstrably without jurisdiction or in violation of natural justice. The operative direction was the dismissal of the writ petition.
Key Issues
1. Whether the impugned order in original dated February 7, 2023, passed by the Commissioner of CGST is amenable to challenge by way of a writ petition, given that it is an appellable order under the statute. Petitioner's contention: The petitioners challenged the order in original. The judgment does not explicitly record the petitioner's arguments regarding why a writ petition was preferred over an appeal, other than stating the order was appellable. Revenue's contention: The revenue argued that the impugned order is an appellable order under the statute, implying that a writ petition is not the appropriate remedy. The judgment does not record specific arguments from the revenue beyond this implication.
Sections Cited
None explicitly mentioned in the provided text, beyond the general reference to the order being 'appellable under the statute'.
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
WPA 7386 OF 2023 13.04.2023
Sl no. 15 Haldia Nirman Projects Private Limited & Anr. Ct no. 2
- Vs - P.M.
Additional Director General, Directorate General
of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence, Kolkata
Zonal Unit & Ors.
Mr. Ankit Kanodia,
Ms. Megha Agarwal,
Mr. Abhijat Das
… for the petitioners
Mr. Shiv Shankar Banerjee,
Ms. Manasi Mukherjee
… for respondent No. 3
Mr. Gautam Sardar,
Mr. GAuam Malik
… for Union of India/respondent No. 4
Heard learned advocates appearing for the parties. By this writ petition petitioner has challenged the impugned order in original dated 7th February, 2023 passed by the Commissioner of CGST which is an appellable order under the statute. In addition I find on perusal of the aforesaid impugned adjudication order that it is neither without juri iction nor is in violation of principle of natural justice nor it is a non-speaking order rather the impugned adjudication order is in much detail and lengthy considering judgements, discussion containing 65 pages. Insufficiency of the reason in an
2 order is different from no reason at all. Petitioner may not be satisfied with the same but it cannot be called that the order does not contain any reason or non-speaking order and adjudicating authority may differ and disagree with the contention raised by an assessee but it does not mean that the order is without juri iction. Considering the facts and circumstances of this case, submission of the parties and on perusal of the impugned adjudication order which is an appellable order, I am not inclined to entertain this writ petition being WPA 7386 of 2023 and the same is accordingly dismissed.
(Md. Nizamuddin, 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.