Riddhi Siddhi Home Studios (Sanju) vs. Union Of INDIA

Held

The Court held that the challenge to the constitutional validity of Rule 117 was no longer res integra and therefore, such a prayer could not be entertained. However, considering that the Union of India and the Finance Department had extended the period contemplated under Rule 1A of Rule 117 till December 31, 2019, the Court granted liberty to the petitioner. The petitioner was directed to make an application before the GST Council through the Standing Counsel, who was requested to forward it to the jurisdictional officer. This officer would then forward it to the GST Council for issuing a requisite certificate of recommendation, along with particulars, evidence, and a certified copy of the order. A decision was to be taken forthwith, and if the petitioner's assertion was found correct, the GST Council would issue a necessary recommendation to the Commissioner to enable the petitioner to get the benefit of CENVAT credit within the stipulated time of December 31, 2019. The writ petition was disposed of in terms of these directions.

Facts

The petitioner, Riddhi Siddhi Home Studios, sought permission to file Form TRAN-1 under Section 140 of the CGST Act and Rule 117 of the CGST Rules to avail transitional credit of Rs. 4,52,768/-. The petitioner had also manually submitted Form TRAN-1 to the respondent-department and prayed that the department should give effect to it. The present writ petition was filed before the Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench. The petitioner argued that the petition should be disposed of in terms of a previous order passed by a co-ordinate bench of the same High Court in the case of Obelisk Composite Technology LLP Vs. Union of India & Others.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petitioner can be permitted to file Form TRAN-1 to avail transitional credit of Rs. 4,52,768/- under Section 140 of the CGST Act read with Rule 117 of the CGST Rules? 2. Whether the respondents should give effect to the manually submitted Form TRAN-1 to enable the petitioner to avail legitimate input tax credit of Rs. 4,52,768/-? Petitioner's arguments: The petitioner contended that the present petition is identical to the case of Obelisk Composite Technology LLP (supra) and should be disposed of in terms of that order. They sought to avail transitional credit by filing Form TRAN-1 and for the department to give effect to their manually filed form. Revenue's arguments: The judgment notes that the Revenue brought to the court's attention a previous judgment in M/s Anupam Motors Vs. Union of India, where the challenge to Rule 117 of the Rules was held to be no longer res integra in view of the Gujarat High Court's decision in Willowood Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Union of India. The Revenue also submitted that the Union of India had extended the last date for submitting GST TRANS-1 up to December 31, 2019, but Rule 117(1A) requires an application through the GST council.