M/S S. K. Mishra Contractor vs. State Of Uttarakhand
Held
The Court held that since the petitioner's representation against the imposition of GST had already been rejected, the cause of action as agitated in the present writ petition did not survive. Therefore, the writ petition was dismissed as withdrawn. The Court granted the petitioner liberty to file a fresh petition challenging both the order rejecting the representation and the Government Order dated 05.09.2017, which formed the basis for the imposition of GST. No decision was made on the merits of the GST imposition itself.
Facts
The petitioner filed a writ petition challenging the imposition of 12% GST. The petitioner had submitted a representation on 16.08.2018 against this imposition. The respondents filed a short counter affidavit on 06.12.2018, stating that the 10% GST (initially stated as 12% in the petition, but later clarified as 10% in the counter affidavit) was imposed pursuant to a Government Order dated 05.09.2017. The petitioner's representation was subsequently rejected on 26.11.2018. The Court noted that since the representation had already been rejected, the cause of action for the present writ petition no longer survived.
Key Issues
1. Whether the cause of action in the writ petition survives after the rejection of the petitioner's representation against the imposition of GST. Petitioner's contention: The petitioner initially sought a decision on their representation against the imposition of 12% GST. The respondents argued that the imposition was based on a Government Order dated 05.09.2017. The petitioner's representation was rejected. The Court observed that the rejection of the representation meant the original cause of action for the writ petition, which was to seek a decision on the representation, no longer existed.
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WPMS No. 3175 of 2018 Hon’ble Sharad Kumar Sharma, J.
Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner.
Mr. N.S. Pundir, Deputy Advocate General for the State of Uttarakhand.
After filing of the writ petition, wherein, the petitioner has confined his prayer for taking a decision on the representation submitted by him on 16.08.2018 against the action of the respondent of imposing 12% GST, initially the counter affidavit was called and respondent nos. 2, 3 & 4 had filed a short counter affidavit on 06.12.2018, wherein, they have contended that the imposition of 10% GST has been made in pursuance to the Government Order dated 05.09.2017, and based on the directives of the said Government Order while disputing the same the petitioner has submitted representation. The representation has been rejected on 26.11.2018. Since the representation already stands rejected, the cause as agitated in the present writ petition does not survive. Hence, this writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn with the liberty open to the petitioner to file afresh, challenging the impugned order rejecting the representation as well as the basis of imposition of 12% GST, i.e.
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