P.S. Infrabuild PVT. LTD. vs. Union Of INDIA

Facts

The petitioner, P.S. Infrabuild Pvt. Ltd., through its Director Prithvi Singh, filed multiple writ petitions before the Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur. These petitions were directed against the Union of India, the State of Rajasthan, the Dy. Commissioner, State Goods and Services Tax, and the Additional Commissioner (Appeals). The specific tax periods and the exact nature of the orders or actions under challenge, as well as the amounts in dispute, are not detailed in the provided text. The procedural history indicates that the petitioner sought to withdraw these writ petitions to pursue appeals that had already been filed, following a notification dated November 2, 2023.

Held

The Court held that the petitioner was entitled to withdraw the writ petitions. The reasoning was based on the petitioner's expressed intention to pursue appeals that had already been filed, presumably in light of Notification No. 2/2023 dated November 2, 2023. The Court granted the petitioner the liberty to do so. The ratio decidendi is that a High Court, in its writ jurisdiction, can permit the withdrawal of petitions if the petitioner wishes to pursue an alternative remedy that has already been invoked, especially when such a course of action is facilitated by a subsequent notification. The operative direction was to dismiss the writ petitions as withdrawn, with the liberty granted to the petitioner to pursue their appeals.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner is entitled to withdraw the writ petitions to pursue appeals already filed, in light of Notification No. 2/2023 dated November 2, 2023? The petitioner argued that they had already filed appeals subsequent to the aforementioned notification and sought permission to withdraw the present writ petitions to pursue those appeals. The respondents did not appear to have raised any specific arguments against the withdrawal, as the court proceeded to dismiss the petitions as withdrawn with liberty to pursue the appeals. The core issue revolved around the court's discretion to allow withdrawal of writ petitions when alternative remedies, which the petitioner had already availed, were available and being pursued.