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TMI Blog2021 (11) TMI 935X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... romotion (DIPP), the administrative department, had issued Notification dated 05.10.2017 which had come into operation with effect from 01.07.2017 and shall remain in operation for the residual period. Budgetary support under the scheme shall be worked out on quarterly basis and claims for the same shall also be filed on a quarterly basis. It was also specified that the eligible units was required to obtain one time registration and file an application for payment of budgetary support which shall be processed by the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of the Central Taxes for sanction of the admissible amount. The sanction amount shall be credited into bank accounts of the beneficiaries through PFMS platform of the Central Government. Paragraph 6 thereof, which is pressed by the petitioner, states that the claim for the quarter ending September, 2017 has already become due. In order to mitigate the difficulties of the eligible units, it has been decided that units would be registered on the basis of application filed by them manually and application of claim for budgetary support for the said quarter would also be filed and processed manually. From the circular dated 27.11.2017 it is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Dilip Kumar Agarwal, Junior Standing Counsel for the Respondents JUDGMENT Bhaskar Raj Pradhan, J 1. The dispute in the present writ petition lies in a narrow compass and relates to the rejection of the petitioners claims for budgetary support under a Scheme of Budgetary Support under Goods and Service Tax regime on the ground that the claims were made for the period prior to the registration which is impermissible. 2. The writ petitioner is engaged in the manufacture and supply of pharmaceutical products at their unit situated in Sikkim. They seek to challenge four orders, all dated 05.12.2019 (the impugned orders), passed by the Assistant Commissioner, Central Goods and Service Tax, Gangtok Division, Gangtok rejecting the four claims for budgetary support for four quarters filed by the petitioner under Notification No. 10(1)/2017-DBA-II/NER dated 05.10.2017 (notification dated 05.10.2017) for the period July, 2017 to June, 2018. 3. The impugned orders record that the petitioner has been assigned with the unique ID (UID) registration number UNQSBS11AAACG2207L1Z50001 upon validating them to be eligible for Scheme of Budgetary Support under GST (the scheme) in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and North East including Sikkim. In pursuance of the decision of the Government of India to provide budgetary support to the existing eligible manufacturing units operating in the above named states under different industrial promotion schemes of the Government of India, for a residual period for which each of the units is eligible, a scheme was introduced as a measure of good will. To the extent of the present controversy clause 7 and 8 are the relevant clauses of the Notification dated 05.10.2017 dealing with manner of budgetary support. It is quoted below:- 7. MANNER OF BUDGETARY SUPPORT 7.1 The manufacturer shall file an application for payment of budgetary support for the Tax paid in cash, other than the amount of Tax paid by utilization of Input Tax credit under the Input Tax Credit Rule, 2017, to the Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of Central Taxes, as the case may be, by the 15th day of the succeeding month after end of quarter after payment of tax relating to the quarter to which the claim relates. 7.2 The Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of Central Taxes, as the case may be, after such examination of the application as may be ne ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... anction amount shall be credited into bank accounts of the beneficiaries through PFMS platform of the Central Government. Paragraph 6 thereof, which is pressed by the petitioner, states that the claim for the quarter ending September, 2017 has already become due. In order to mitigate the difficulties of the eligible units, it has been decided that units would be registered on the basis of application filed by them manually and application of claim for budgetary support for the said quarter would also be filed and processed manually. The approval of the registration for the scheme and processing of the application for budgetary support for the quarter shall also be undertaken manually by the jurisdictional Deputy Commissioner/Assistant Commissioner of the Central Tax. The sanctioned amount shall be credited to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through the PFMS platform in a manner fully compliant with the direct transfer of the benefit to the account of the assesse. 9. The communication dated 27.11.2017 also provided the Standard Operating Procedure for the claims relating to the first quarter ending September, 2017 in paragraph 8 and 9 thereof. They are quoted below:- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Submission of application for budgetary support by the eligible unit for quarter ending September, 2017 and its sanction (i) An eligible unit after allotment of the Unique Id may file an application for claiming budgetary support under the provisions of para 5.7 of the scheme in the format attached to this circular. The application shall be filed by the eligible unit only after return for the quarter has been filed and tax as per return is paid. (ii) Once application is filed, duly supported by the prescribed document, the same shall be processed for sanction. The claim shall be sanctioned after verification of the tax paid by the eligible unit. The details relating to tax payment in cash and input tax credit availed, utilized including purchases made form a composition dealer during the quarter shall be available in the GST returns of the taxpayer, which are available on the CBEC GST application for verification of the application for the budgetary support filed by the unit. The closing of the credit after end of the quarter shall also be provided for verification by the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner. (iii) In cases where an entity is carrying out its operation in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... udgetary support amount may be sanctioned provisionally for a period of six months. 10. From the circular dated 27.11.2017 it is clear that although the claim for the quarter ending September, 2017 had already become due In order to mitigate the difficulties of the eligible units it was decided that those eligible units would be registered on the basis of application filed by them manually and application for claim for budgetary support for the said quarter (i.e., quarter ending September, 2017) would also be filed and processed manually. Reading the Standard Operating Procedure even for the first quarter ending September, 2017 it is clear that registration under the GST is a necessary prerequisite for the scheme and the UID would be issued only after registration. It is also seen that an eligible unit could file an application for claiming budgetary support for the quarter ending September, 2017 only after allotment of the UID. On 12.12.2017 the petitioner made a manual application for registration under the scheme to the Respondent No. 3. The application is marked as annexure P-7 by the petitioner. According to the petitioner this application was filed by relevant documen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... prior to the issuance of UID is not maintainable. 16. Mr. Rahul Tangri s submission that the uncontroverted facts would reflect that the failure to register the admittedly eligible unit of the petitioner and issue the UID was the respondents failure and for no fault of the petitioner is correct. Quite evidently although the application for registration and issuance of UID made by the petitioner had been received by the respondent No. 3 on 12.12.2017, the authority neither registered the petitioner nor rejected the application compelling the petitioner to reapply for the same electronically pursuant to which registration and UID was granted on 31.10.2018. The fact that registration and UID was granted makes it evident that the petitioner was eligible for the budgetary support under the scheme. Quite clearly the Respondent No. 3 failed to process the application for registration as required. Since, the Respondent No. 3 failed to grant the registration to the petitioner, although it was an eligible unit, the petitioner could not have made their claims for budgetary support before being allotted the UID. When the Respondent No. 3 registered the petitioner and allotted the UID on 3 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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