Hindustan Coca Cola And Anr. vs. State Th.Finance Deptt.And Ors.

Held

The Court held that in view of the submissions made by the learned senior counsel for the appellants and the no-objection from the other side, the appeal is dismissed as withdrawn. The Court noted that the KAR-SAMADHAN-2024 scheme, a government-notified amnesty for tax arrears from the pre-GST regime, requires the withdrawal of pending appeals to avail benefits like waiver of penalty and interest, subject to payment of principal tax. The appellants sought to withdraw the present appeal to comply with this condition. Consequently, the bank guarantees submitted by the appellant, specifically Bank Guarantee No. 5675257519 dated 14.09.2005 for Rs. 5,23,07,994/- and Bank Guarantee No. 5677278541 dated 05.10.2007 for Rs. 1,65,00,623/-, were ordered to be discharged. Any interim directions, if in place, were also vacated.

Facts

The appellants, M/s Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. and its Finance Manager, filed an appeal before the High Court. The State of Jammu & Kashmir and various tax authorities were the respondents. The appeal concerned tax arrears from the pre-GST regime. The appellants sought to withdraw the appeal to avail the benefits of the KAR-SAMADHAN-2024 scheme, a government-notified amnesty scheme for settling tax arrears. This scheme requires the withdrawal of pending appeals or applications related to tax demands to qualify for waiver of penalty and interest, subject to payment of the principal tax due and other conditions. The respondents had no objection to the withdrawal.

Key Issues

1. Whether the appellants are permitted to withdraw the present Letters Patent Appeal (LPAOW No. 48/2007) to avail the benefits of the KAR-SAMADHAN-2024 scheme, which mandates the withdrawal of pending appeals for settlement of tax arrears under Section 6 of the scheme. Arguments for the Appellants: The appellants, represented by Mr. Pranav Kohli, Sr. Advocate, argued that the KAR-SAMADHAN-2024 scheme, notified vide Government Order No. 18-FD of 2024 dated 15.01.2024, provides an amnesty for tax arrears from the pre-GST regime. Clause 6 of the scheme explicitly requires dealers who have pending appeals or applications against tax demands to withdraw them to receive benefits like waiver of penalty and interest, upon payment of the principal tax. Therefore, they sought permission to withdraw the current appeal to comply with this condition. Arguments for the Respondents: Mr. K.D.S. Kotwal, learned Dy.AG, representing the State and its tax authorities, stated that they had no objection to the appellants' submission for withdrawing the appeal.