M/S G.S. Traders vs. The Union Of INDIA

Held

The Court held that the constitutional validity of Section 16(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, has already been decided in favour of the revenue and against the assessee by a coordinate bench of the Patna High Court in CWJC No.9108 of 2021 and other analogous cases, vide judgment dated 08.09.2023. Respectfully following this precedent, the present writ petition was dismissed. The reasoning behind the dismissal is the adherence to the prior judgment of a coordinate bench on the identical issue. The ratio decidendi is that a provision of the Bihar GST Act, specifically Section 16(4), has been upheld as constitutionally valid by the High Court, and subsequent petitions raising the same challenge will be dismissed based on this established precedent.

Facts

The petitioner, M/s G.S. Traders, through its proprietor Neeraj Kumar, 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 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 likely argued that this provision is unconstitutional, potentially infringing on fundamental rights or being arbitrary. The revenue, represented by the Union of India and State authorities, would have contended that Section 16(4) is a valid legislative enactment and does not suffer from any constitutional infirmity. The judgment does not explicitly detail the arguments of each side, but it refers to a previous judgment on the same issue.