M/S Balwant Construction PVT. LTD. vs. The State Of Bihar

Held

The petitioner sought permission to withdraw all the present petitions. The Court granted this permission. Consequently, all the petitions were dismissed as withdrawn. The operative directions were that the petitions stand dismissed as withdrawn, and any interlocutory applications filed in these petitions also stand disposed of. The Court did not decide on the merits of the assessment orders or the legal questions raised by the petitioner.

Facts

The petitioner, M/s Balwant Construction Pvt. Ltd., filed multiple writ petitions before the Patna High Court challenging assessment orders passed by the Assistant Commissioner of State Taxes. These orders were passed under Section 62 of the GST Act, pursuant to best judgment assessments due to the petitioner's default in filing GSTR-3B returns for various tax periods: April 2019, June 2019, May 2019, and March 2019 (financial year 2018-19). The petitioner sought to quash these assessment orders, requesting permission to furnish the returns with late fees and to stay any recovery proceedings. In one petition (CWJC No. 404 of 2020), the petitioner also sought a direction to deem the assessment order withdrawn in view of a valid return and tax deposited after the assessment order was served.

Key Issues

1. Whether the assessment orders passed under Section 62 of the GST Act, based on best judgment assessment due to non-filing of returns, are liable to be quashed? Petitioner's contention: The petitioner argued that the assessment orders should be quashed, and they should be allowed to furnish the returns with late fees. In CWJC No. 404 of 2020, the petitioner contended that since a valid return and tax payment were made after the service of the assessment order, the assessment order should be deemed withdrawn as per Section 62(2) of the GST Act. Revenue's contention: The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the revenue or state respondents.