Sri Moti Private Limited vs. Union Of INDIA

Held

The Court held that Section 16(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, is constitutionally valid. This decision was reached by respectfully following a previous judgment of a Co-ordinate Bench of the same Court, passed on 08.09.2023 in CWJC No.9108 of 2021 and other analogous cases. The ratio decidendi is that the constitutional validity of Section 16(4) has already been affirmed by a coordinate bench, and therefore, the present petition, raising the same issue, is bound by that precedent. The Court did not provide independent reasoning for its decision in this specific judgment, relying solely on the prior ruling. The operative direction was to dismiss the writ petition.

Facts

The petitioner, Sri Moti Private Limited, filed a writ petition before the Patna High Court challenging the constitutional validity of Section 16(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The respondents include the Union of India and various authorities of the State of Bihar, including the Commissioner of State Tax and the Assistant Commissioner of State Tax. The specific tax period and the amount in dispute are not recorded in the judgment. The procedural history leading to this writ petition is not detailed.

Key Issues

1. Whether Section 16(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, is constitutionally valid? The petitioner contended that Section 16(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, is unconstitutional. The revenue, represented by the Union of India and the State of Bihar, argued in favour of the constitutional validity of the said provision. The judgment does not explicitly detail the specific arguments or precedents relied upon by either side, beyond stating the core contention regarding the validity of the provision.