Myers Tyre Supply (INDIA) LTD vs. The Assistant Commissioner

Held

The Court set aside the impugned order dated 12.11.2018 passed by the learned Single Judge. The Court noted that the appellant had withdrawn the writ petitions challenging the provisions of the CGST and TNGST Acts concerning time limits for claiming input tax credit. In light of this withdrawal, the Court directed the respondents to consider the appellant's application dated 28.06.2018 for the refund of Input Tax Credit under the provisions of the TNVAT Act independently and on its own merits. The respondents were given twelve weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order to consider the application. The Court clarified that the withdrawal of the other writ petitions was without prejudice to the appellant's right to claim the refund of input tax credit.

Facts

The appellant, Myers Tyre Supply (India) Limited, filed writ petitions seeking a writ of mandamus to direct the Assistant Commissioner (ST) to permit them to upload their Central Excise transitional credit of Rs. 6,74,926/- and input credit accrued under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 (TNVAT Act) amounting to Rs. 30,44,254/-. They also sought a refund of this accrued input tax credit under Section 142(3) of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (TNGST Act) read with Section 19(18) of the TNVAT Act. The appellant had also filed separate writ petitions challenging the time limits for processing such applications. The learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petitions as premature, suggesting the appellant modify their prayers in the pending writ petitions challenging the GST Acts. Subsequently, the appellant withdrew the writ petitions challenging the GST Acts.

Key Issues

1. Whether the appellant is entitled to a writ of mandamus directing the Assistant Commissioner (ST) to permit the uploading of transitional Central Excise credit and TNVAT input credit into the electronic credit ledger, and to grant a refund of the accrued TNVAT input credit, under Section 142(3) of the TNGST Act read with Section 19(18) of the TNVAT Act? Petitioner's Arguments: The petitioner contended that they were entitled to the refund of accrued input tax credit under the TNVAT Act and sought directions for the respondent authority to process their application. They also sought to upload transitional credit. Revenue's Arguments: The judgment does not record specific arguments from the revenue or state. However, the dismissal of the writ petitions by the Single Judge suggests that the revenue likely argued that the petitions were premature or that the appellant had not followed the correct procedure.