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TMI Blog2021 (8) TMI 1072X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the GST Act. With regard to the issue of the 1st respondent Designated Committee refusing to issue discharge certificate under Sub-section (8) of Section 127 of the Finance Act, there is nothing in the Scheme which empowers the said respondent to refuse issuance of the discharge certificate on the basis of any subsequent event apart from the fact of discovery of false statement relating to any material particular in the declaration. Availing of transitional credit by the petitioner under the GST Act on the Cenvat credit for GTA and C F Agency services under the Central Excise Act is a subsequent and separate transaction from the declaration made by him under the Scheme and the adjudication of such claim cannot be said to be barred in law or without jurisdiction. Impugned order set aside - petition allowed. - WRIT PETITION Nos.2, 3 & 5 OF 2021 - - - Dated:- 16-8-2021 - HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE JOYMALYA BAGCHI AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K. SURESH REDDY Counsel for the Petitioner : Sri Raghava Ramabhadran Counsel for Respondents : Sri Suresh Kumar Routhu Common Order: (Per Hon'ble Sri Justice Joymalya Bagchi) 1. All these Writ Petitions are heard ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... No.05/2019 Central Excise-NT, the SVLDRS Rules were notified and the scheme became operational from 1st September, 2019 to 31 st December, 2019. 4. Section 122 of the Scheme enumerated the enactments to which the said Scheme would apply, which, inter alia, included the Central Excise Act, 1944 and the Rules framed thereunder. The Scheme was made applicable with regard to tax dues under the aforesaid enactments as per Section 123 of the Finance Act. Relevant portion of the said provision, for our purpose, is set out herein below: 123. For the purposes of the Scheme, tax dues means .. (b) where a show cause notice under any of the indirect tax enactment has been received by the declarant on or before the 30th day of June, 2019, then, the amount of duty stated to be payable by the declarant in the said notice: Provided that if the said notice has been issued to the declarant and other persons making them jointly and severally liable for an amount, then, the amount indicated in the said notice as jointly and severally payable shall be taken to be the amount of duty payable by the declarant; 5. Exceptions to such eligibility were engrafted in Sect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... VLDRS Scheme, which has been challenged in Writ Petition No.2 of 2021. 6. Mr.Raghava Ramabhadran, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, submits that the Scheme had been introduced under Chapter-V of the Finance Act of 2019 in order to put a hiatus to all pending disputes relating to tax dues under the laws including Central Excise Tax, which were subsumed into the GST Act, upon its introduction on 1st July, 2017. Show-cause notice, dated 04.06.2019, issued upon his client for allegedly availing irregular Cenvat credit to the tune of ₹ 17,34,56,893/- fell under the category of tax dues under the Scheme. Accordingly, petitioner was advised to make a declaration under Section 126(1) of the Finance Act. Pursuant to such declaration, the tax relief claimed was accepted and statement in electronic form SVLDRS-3 was issued by the 1st respondent Designated Committee on 26.02.2020. Petitioner duly paid the said amount as per Sub-section (5) of Section 127 of the Finance Act. Under such circumstances, it was incumbent on the part of the 1st respondent Designated Committee to issue a discharge certificate within 30 days of payment. Instead of doing so, impugned letter, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... after availing relief as per the Scheme. The said proposal appears to have been verified and accepted by issuance of a statement in electronic form namely SVLDRS-3 by the 1st respondent Designated Committee and the estimated amount was also paid by the petitioner within the stipulated time. Sub-section (8) of Section 127 of the Finance Act mandates the 1st respondent Designated Committee to issue a discharge certificate in electronic form within 30 days of payment of the said amount. Instead of issuing the discharge certificate, the respondents proceeded with adjudication of the aforesaid show-cause notice under the Central Excise Act and passed the impugned order-in-original, dated 12.10.2020, and also issued a letter, dated 24.11.2020, refusing to issue the discharge certificate on the premise he has illegally claimed transitional credit on the irregular Cenvat credit under the GST Act. Another show-cause notice, dated 10.11.2020, was issued upon the petitioner under the provisions of the GST Act for illegally availing transitional credit for ₹ 17,46,55,825/-, which included the aforesaid sum of ₹ 17,34,56,893/- which was the subject matter of the declaration und ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Act. 11. In the light of the aforesaid discussion, we are of the view that once the declarant had made payment of the estimated amount as per the statement in the form of SVLDRS-3 within the stipulated time, it was beyond the jurisdiction of the respondents to proceed with adjudication of the show-cause notice issued under the Central Excise Act with regard to the self same subject matter and pass impugned order-in-original, dated 12.10.2020. However, it is the matter of adjudication whether availing of Scheme would attach legitimacy to the Cenvat credit on GTA and C F Agency services to the tune of ₹ 17,34,56,893/- and the same would be eligible for the purpose of transition under Section 140 of the GST Act. Thus, impugned show-cause notice, dated 10.11.2020, issued upon the petitioner with regard to availing of transitional credit under Section 140 of the GST Act in respect of the aforesaid Cenvat credit cannot be said to be without jurisdiction. Thus, we do not wish to interfere with the said show-cause notice and leave it open to the adjudicating authority to take appropriate decision thereon. With regard to the issue of the 1st respondent Designated Committee refusi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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