The Assistant Commissioner of State Tax and Others vs M/s. Commercial Steel Limited

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

3 September 2021

Case No.

Civil Appeal No. 5121 of 2021

Result

Allowed

Bench

D.Y. Chandrachud, Vikram Nath, Hima Kohli

Citation

[2021] 7 S.C.R. 660 : 2021 INSC 441

Headnote

Constitution of India – Ar.226 – Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 – s.107 – The case of Revenue that in the guise of an inter-State sale, the respondent was attempting to sell the goods in the local market by evading SGST and CGST – An order of detention was issued and a notice was served on the person in charge of the conveyance –The respondent paid tax and penalty, following which the goods and the conveyance were released –Writ petition was filed by the respondent – The High Court ordered the refund of the amount collected towards tax and penalty together with interest – Before the Supreme Court, the appellant contended that the High Court was in error in entertaining the writ petition u/Art.226 of the Constitution, having regard to the statutory alternative remedy which is available u/s.107 of the CGST Act –Held: The respondent had a statutory remedy u/s.107 – Instead of availing the remedy, the respondent instituted a petition u/Art.226 – The existence of an alternate remedy is not an absolute bar to the maintainability of a writ petition u/Art.226 of the Constitution – But a writ petition can be entertained in exceptional circumstances where there is: (i) a breach of fundamental rights; (ii) a violation of the principles of natural justice; (iii) an excess of jurisdiction; or (iv) a challenge to the vires of the statute or delegated legislation – In the instant case, none of the exceptions was established – There was no violation of the principles of natural justice, as notice was served on the person in charge of the conveyance – It was not appropriate for the High Court to entertain a writ petition –Thus, respondent relegated to pursue the alternate statutory remedy u/s.107 of the CGST Act – The impugned order of the High Court is set aside. COMMERCIAL STEEL LTD. [DR DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD, J.]

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by DR DHANANJAYA Y CHANDRACHUD, J. 1. Leave granted. 2. This appeal arises from a judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Telangana dated 4 March 2020. 3. The High Court in the exercise of its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution set aside the action of the appellants in collecting an amount of Rs 4,16,447 from the respondent towards tax and penalty under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 (CGST) and State Goods and Services Tax Act (SGST) and directed a refund together with interest at the rate of 6% per annum f

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