Delhi High Court
M/S Pitambra Books Pvt. Ltd, vs Union Of India & Ors. on 23 July, 2020
$~8
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 627/2020
M/S PITAMBRA BOOKS PVT. LTD ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Puneet Agarwal with
Mr. Deepak Anand and Mr. Yuvraj
Singh, Advocates.
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Satyendra Kumar, Advocate for
respondent No. 1/UOI.
Ms. Sonu Bhatnagar, Sr. Standing
Counsel with Ms. Anushree Narain and
Ms. Venus Mehrotra, Advocates for
respondent Nos. 2 to 5.
% Date of Decision: 23rd July, 2020
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANMOHAN
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA
JUDGMENT
MANMOHAN, J: (Oral)
CM APPL. 15429/2020
1. The application has been heard by way of video conferencing.
2. On the last date of hearing this Court had passed the following order:-
"CM APPL. 15429/2020
The application has been listed before this Bench by the Registry
in view of the urgency expressed therein. The same has been heard by
way of video conferencing.
Present application has been filed for early hearing as well as
for a direction to the respondent to accept the petitioner's manual
application dated 14th February, 2020 and to disburse the refund
claimed for the period November, 2017 to March, 2019.
Learned counsel for petitioner states that despite this Court
staying paragraph 8 of Circular No.125/44/2019-GST dated 18th
November, 2019 vide order dated 21st January, 2020, the GSTN Portal
is still not entertaining a refund application spread over two financial
years.
Learned counsel for petitioner states that though the petitioner
also filed a manual application for refund dated 14th February, 2020
and furnished the clarifications as sought by the respondent
vide letter dated 4th June, 2020, yet the said application has not
been processed till date.
Learned counsel for the respondent states that the said letter
dated 4th June, 2020 was received on 8th June, 2020.
Keeping in view the strict timelines stipulated in Rules 90 and 91
of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 this Court directs
the respondent to process the petitioner's aforesaid manual application
within three working days.
List on 23rd July, 2020.
The order be uploaded on the website forthwith. Copy of the
order be also forwarded to the learned counsel through e-mail."
3. Today, learned counsel for the respondent states that in view of the
deficiencies pointed out in the manual application, the petitioner agreed to
reduce its refund claim. Learned counsel for respondent further states that the
petitioner's refund for the balance amount Rs. 17,48,80,852/- has been
sanctioned on 22nd July, 2020 and the sanction order has been issued
electronically.
4. The letter dated 22nd July, 2020 written by Deputy Commissioner, CGST
& Central Excise, Division Jhansi to the respondent's counsel is reproduced
hereinbelow:-
"C.No.V(18)214-/Refund/Pitambra/Jhs/2020 Dated:22.07.2020
To
Ms Sonu Bhatnagar,
Sr. Standing Counsel,
Delhi High Court,
B 3/72 Azad Apartments,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, Hauz Khas,
New Delhi-110016
Madam,
Sub: - Manual refund filed by M/s Pitambra Books Private Ltd
GSTIN-09AACCP4906DIZM for Rs 18,57,15,268/- for the period
Nov-17 to Mar-19 (on account of ITC accumulated during export) in
compliance to Hon'ble Delhi High Court Order dated 21.01.2020
with reference to W.P.(C) 627/2020 dated 21.01.2020 - C/reg
*****************************************************
Kindly refer to telephonic discussion held on 22.07.2020 on
the subject matter. In this regard it is submitted that show cause
notice was issued electronically on 21.07.2020 to the party for
disallowance of refund claim for Rs 6,86,166/- being credit take on
"Capital Goods/common service/ineligible services" with reference
to online application for refund claim amounting to Rs
17,55,67,017/- (revised and in lieu of the amount Rs 18,57,15,268/-
filed manually) filed by the party on 19.7.2020. Party responded
electronically on 22.7.2020 that "we request you to please reduce
this amount from refund claimed and issue refund for balance
amount" in compliance to electronic show cause notice dated
21.07.2020.
Accordingly refund claim for remaining amount i.e.
Rs.17,48,80,852/- has been sanctioned today i.e. 22.07.2020 and
sanction order has been issued electronically.
Now, it appears that compliance of Hon'ble High Court order
dated 17.07.2020 has been done now.
Further, in present circumstances, the earlier filed manual
application dated 08.06.2020 amounting to Rs 18,57,15,268/- has
become redundant and is being returned to the party as no action
required to be taken on this manual refund application.
Sd/-
Deputy Commissioner
CGST & Central Excise
Division Jhansi"
5. Further, learned counsel for the respondent states that GSTN has already
started working on the development and deployment of the functionality to file
refund application by clubbing of financial years in accordance with CBIC's
Circular No. 135/05.2020 dated 31st March, 2020 and the same is likely to be
deployed on the GST Portal by September 2020.
6. The statements made by the learned counsel for the respondents are
accepted by this Court and the respondents are held bound by the same.
7. However, learned counsel for the petitioner states that the petitioner is
aggrieved by the sanctioning order dated 22nd July, 2020.
8. Since, the order dated 22nd July, 2020 is an appealable order, the present
writ petition and all pending applications are disposed of with liberty to the
petitioner to file appropriate proceedings in accordance with law. All the rights
and contentions of the parties are left open. The next date of hearing i.e. 11 th
August, 2020 stands cancelled.
9. The order be uploaded on the website forthwith. Copy of the order be
also forwarded to the learned counsel through e-mail.
MANMOHAN, J
SANJEEV NARULA, J
JULY 23, 2020
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