M/S Prem Motors PVT. LTD. Through Shri Sanjeev Sharma vs. Joint Commissioner

Held

The Court allowed the application for conversion of the Miscellaneous Petition into a Writ Petition. The reasoning was based on the petitioner's submission that the petition was filed against an order passed by the Joint Commissioner GST, which necessitates its treatment as a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. The Court found merit in the petitioner's plea that the initial filing under Article 227 was due to inadvertence. The operative direction was to allow IA No. 12467/2024 and direct the office to carry out necessary corrections in the cause title within three working days. The case was to be deleted from the list of Miscellaneous Petitions and included in the list of Writ Petitions. The Court also noted the petitioner's intention to make further corrections to the cause title at a later stage and allowed this prayer. The matter was then listed for January 2025.

Facts

The petitioner, M/s Prem Motors Pvt. Ltd., filed a Miscellaneous Petition (MP No. 7373 of 2023) before the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Gwalior. The petition was directed against an order passed by the Joint Commissioner GST. The petitioner's counsel submitted that the petition was inadvertently filed under Article 227 of the Constitution instead of Article 226, as it challenged an order from a GST authority. An application (IA No. 12467/2024) was filed to convert the Miscellaneous Petition into a Writ Petition. The respondents' counsel had no objection. The Court allowed the application, directing the office to carry out the necessary corrections in the cause title within three working days and to move the case from the list of Miscellaneous Petitions to the list of Writ Petitions. The petitioner also indicated a need for further corrections to the cause title, which would be addressed in a subsequent application before the final hearing.

Key Issues

1. Whether the petition, challenging an order passed by the Joint Commissioner GST, should be treated as a Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, as submitted by the petitioner, or if it was correctly filed as a Miscellaneous Petition under Article 227. Petitioner's contention: The petition challenges an order passed by a GST authority, thus falling under the purview of Article 226 of the Constitution, and the initial filing under Article 227 was an inadvertent error. Revenue/State's contention: The counsel for the respondents had no objection to the conversion of the petition.