Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University Thr Registrar Prashant S Amrutkar vs. Union Of INDIA Thr Secretary And Others

Held

The Court allowed the writ petitions in terms of prayer clauses 'A' and 'B'. Prayer 'A' sought the issuance of a Writ of Certiorari or other appropriate writ to set aside/quash the show cause notice dated August 20, 2026. Prayer 'B' sought the issuance of a Writ of Mandamus or other appropriate writ to stay the proceedings initiated by the show cause notice dated August 28, 2026, concerning the proposed demand of tax on affiliation fees. The Court's reasoning was that the issues raised were squarely covered by its own previous decisions in Writ Petition No. 4389 of 2025 and Writ Petition No. 723 of 2024. The ratio decidendi is that if a matter is covered by a binding precedent of the same High Court, the relief granted in that precedent should be extended to the current petitioner. The operative directions were to quash the show cause notices and stay the proceedings.

Facts

The Petitioner, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, filed two writ petitions challenging show cause notices issued by Respondent No. 3 (an authority under the GST regime). The show cause notices, dated August 20, 2026, and August 28, 2026, proposed to demand tax on affiliation fees. The specific authority that issued these notices is identified as ACST/CSN-INV – D-001/GST/affiliation fees/DRC-01/B-11. The amount in dispute is not explicitly stated. The procedural history involves the issuance of these notices, leading to the present writ petitions before the High Court.

Key Issues

1. Whether the show cause notices issued by Respondent No. 3, proposing to demand tax on affiliation fees, are liable to be set aside or quashed? (Question of law, turning on the applicability of GST provisions to affiliation fees). 2. Whether the proceedings initiated by the show cause notices should be stayed? (Question of mixed law and fact, concerning the validity of the demand and the continuation of proceedings). Petitioner's Arguments: The Petitioner argued that the issue is covered by previous decisions of the High Court, specifically Writ Petition No. 4389 of 2025 (Principal Seat) and Writ Petition No. 723 of 2024 (Goa Bench). They sought to set aside the show cause notices and stay the proceedings based on these precedents. Revenue's Arguments: The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the Respondents (Union of India and the State) regarding the merits of the case. The decision appears to have been made based on the Petitioner's reliance on prior judgments.