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

Held

The Court granted the petitioner's counsel permission to withdraw the present petitions. Consequently, all the petitions were dismissed as withdrawn. The operative directions were that the petitions stand dismissed as withdrawn, and any interlocutory applications filed in these petitions also stand disposed of.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 delve into the merits of the assessment orders or the petitioner's contentions regarding Section 62(2) of the GST Act, as the matter was resolved by the withdrawal of the petitions. Therefore, no specific findings were made on the issues framed, and no ratio decidendi on the GST provisions was established by the Court's decision.

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, 2017, pursuant to best judgment assessments due to the petitioner's default in filing GSTR-3B returns for various tax periods, including April 2019, June 2019, May 2019, and March 2019. The petitioner sought to quash these assessment orders and requested directions to allow them to furnish returns with late fees, and to stay recovery proceedings. In one petition (CWJC No. 404 of 2020), the petitioner also sought to treat the assessment order as withdrawn in light of a return filed and tax deposited after the service of the assessment order, as per sub-section (2) of Section 62 of the GST Act.

Key Issues

1. Whether the assessment orders passed under Section 62 of the GST Act, 2017, pursuant to best judgment assessments for non-filing of GSTR-3B returns for the periods April 2019, June 2019, May 2019, and March 2019, are liable to be quashed. 2. Whether the petitioner should be allowed to furnish returns with late fees for the defaulted periods. 3. Whether recovery proceedings initiated based on the best judgment assessment orders should be stayed. 4. Whether the assessment order dated 28/8/2019 in CWJC No. 404 of 2020, for the taxable period March 2019, should be deemed withdrawn in view of a valid return filed and tax deposited after the service of the assessment order, as per Section 62(2) of the GST Act, 2017. Petitioner's Arguments: The petitioner contended that they should be allowed to file their returns with late fees, and that in one instance (March 2019), a valid return was filed after the assessment order, making it liable for withdrawal under Section 62(2). Revenue's Arguments: The judgment does not record specific arguments from the revenue respondents.