Manjit Trading Company And Others vs. State Of Punjab And Others
Held
The Court did not decide the merits of the case. After some arguments, the learned counsel for the petitioners sought permission to withdraw the present petition. The Court granted this request, allowing the petitioners to pursue their remedy before the appropriate forum if they so advised. Therefore, no specific findings were made on the tax liabilities or the interpretation of the contractual agreements. The operative direction was to dismiss the petition as withdrawn, with liberty granted to the petitioners to approach the appropriate forum.
Facts
Six petitioners, operating from tenanted shops within the Bus Stand, Jalandhar, which were constructed under a public-private partnership involving respondent No. 5, M/s RRKK Infrastructure, filed a writ petition. The petitioners' grievance was that respondent No. 5 was insisting they deposit Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Property Tax. The Court noted that shops rented for commercial purposes are subject to service tax and subsequently GST. The nature of the relief sought was based on the interpretation of private contracts, lease deeds, or rent deeds.
Key Issues
1. Whether the petitioners are liable to deposit GST and Property Tax as insisted by respondent No. 5, based on the interpretation of their contractual agreements (lease/rent deeds)? Petitioner's contention: The petitioners sought to challenge the demand for deposit of GST and Property Tax by respondent No. 5. The core of their grievance appears to stem from the interpretation of their contractual obligations with respondent No. 5 regarding these tax liabilities. The petitioners did not explicitly argue any specific legal provision but rather the contractual basis of the demand. Revenue/State's contention: The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the State or other respondents. However, it acknowledges that commercial rentals are subject to GST and that the relief sought depends on the interpretation of private contracts.
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
[1] IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH.
Date of Decision: 31-10-2019 Manjit Trading Company and others .....Petitioners v. State of Punjab and others
.....Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE JASWANT SINGH HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE GIRISH AGNIHOTRI *** Present: Ms.Rupinder K. Thind, Advocate for the petitioner. *** JASWANT SINGH, J. (ORAL) Six petitioners are stated to be operating from the tenanted premises i.e. the shops within the premises of Bus Stand, Jalandhar. It appears that the said construction was under a public private mode (PP), thereby entry of M/s RRKK Infrastructure – respondent No.5 into the picture. The grievance of the petitioner-tenants is that respondent No.5 is insisting them to deposit the GST and the Property tax. It is, however, not in dispute that the shops rented out for commercial purposes would be inviting the levy of service tax; and after the GST regime the GST. It also cannot be disputed that nature of relief claimed is based on the interpretation of the provisions of private contract/lease deed/Rent deed, if any. After arguing for some time,
The judgment continues below.
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