Irfanbhai Hajibhai Patadiya vs. State Of Gujarat

Held

The Court held that the relief pressed for by the petitioner was innocuous and that the respondent State had no serious objection. Accordingly, the Court disposed of the petition with a direction to respondent No. 2, the State Tax Officer, to take an appropriate decision strictly in accordance with law on the petitioner's pending request within a period of two weeks from the date of production of a certified copy of the order. The Court explicitly clarified that it had not entered into the merits of the matter. The ratio decidendi is that High Courts can direct statutory authorities to decide pending matters within a reasonable time frame when no serious objection is raised by the respondent.

Facts

The petitioner, Irfanbhai Hajibhai Patadiya, filed a Special Civil Application before the Gujarat High Court. The petitioner had made a request to respondent No. 2, the State Tax Officer, Mobile Squad, Enforcement Division-IX, Bhavnagar, on March 7, 2021, which was received by the department on March 15, 2021. The petitioner sought a direction from the High Court to respondent No. 2 to take an appropriate decision on this pending request under section 67(6) of the GST Act within a specified time frame. The State of Gujarat was the respondent.

Key Issues

1. Whether the Court should issue a direction to the State Tax Officer to decide the petitioner's pending request under section 67(6) of the GST Act within a fixed time frame? The petitioner argued that a direction was necessary to ensure the timely disposal of their request. The respondent State did not raise any serious objection to the issuance of such a direction.