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TMI Blog2025 (2) TMI 739X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e - under the Scheme, amount of 'admitted tax' clearly represents an amount which is admitted by assessee, whereas 'disputed amount' means amount of tax, interest or penalty which is in dispute pursuant to a litigation filed by an assessee. The Scheme clearly provides that assessee is liable to pay 40% of the amount of tax in dispute provided the same has not been declared/considered in any order/assessment/re-assessment. In the present case, it is not in dispute that the petitioner admitted an amount of Rs. 33,79,374/- being the admitted amount of tax payable by it as per its return. However, pursuant to an adjudication order, an amount of Rs. 6,27,82,418/- was determined against the petitioner - balance between disputed tax and admitted tax was the amount in dispute i.e. in the present case Rs. 5,94,03,043/-. Under the Scheme, Petitioner was only liable to deposit 40% of the disputed amount and there was 60% waiver, but while computing the tax liability, Settlement Officer first deducted the amount of pre-deposit from the amount in dispute and, thereafter, extended the benefit of waiver under the scheme which is clearly travelling beyond the contours of the scheme itself. Admit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... han Adhiniyamon Ki Bakaya Rashi Ka Samadhan Act, 2022 contained in Form JKSY-V dated 12.05.2023 [Annexure-9] passed by Respondent No. 4 pertaining to the period 2002-03 to the extent the amount of pre-deposit of Rs. 49 Lakhs, being the amount of disputed tax paid by Petitioner has not been allowed to be adjusted against the final settlement amount while issuing settlement order, due to which, Petitioner was compelled to deposit excess payment of Rs. 29,40,000/-. (iii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondents to refund an amount of Rs. 29,40,000/- being the excess amount realized by Respondents in terms of Settlement Scheme of 2022 by adopting the mechanism of deducting the amount of pre-deposit made by Petitioner against the disputed tax and, thereafter, conferring the benefit of waiver of tax to the Petitioner in a most illegal and arbitrary manner. (iv) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/direction directing the Respondents to make payment of interest @ 18% per annum on the amount of Rs. 29,40,000/- from the date of deposit i.e. 11.05.2023, till the date of refund of the said amount. (v) For ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ticulars Amount (Rs.) 1. Amount of Admitted Tax 33,79,374.00 2. Amount of Assessed Tax 6,27,82,417.00 3. Remaining balance to be paid (2-1) 5,94,03,043.00 4. Settlement amount (40%) 2,37,61,217.20 5. Pre-Deposit 49,00,000.00 6 Final Settlement amount (4-5) 1,88,61,217.20 7. Due to the aforesaid difference in determination of amount payable under Amnesty Scheme, an excess amount of Rs. 29,40,000/- i.e. [Rs. 2,18,01,217.20 - Rs. 1,88,61,217.20] was determined as payable by petitioner which petitioner paid under protest. Under the Amnesty Scheme, vide Section 8 thereof, provisions were incorporated for filing Appeal before Additional Commissioner of State Tax (Appeal), Jamshedpur Division, Jamshedpur and, accordingly, petitioner preferred its Appeal against the order of settlement dated 12.05.2023 to the extent an excess tax amount of Rs. 29,40,000/- was realized from the petitioner under Settlement Scheme. 8. However, appellate authority vide its order contained in Memo No. 575 dated 25.10.2023 confirmed the order of settlement and held that amount of pre-deposit made by petitioner was to be first deducted from disputed amount and only thereafter, benefit u ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . We have carefully considered the submissions of the parties at bar and perused the provisions of 'Jharkhand Karadhan Adhiniyamon Ki Bakaya Rashi Ka Samadhan Act, 2022' and the corresponding Rules. For the sake of ready reference, certain relevant provisions of the aforesaid Amnesty Scheme is quoted herein under:- 2 DEFINITIONS- (i) "Admitted tax"- means the amount of tax admitted as being payable as per the returns filed by the person under the relevant Act; (ii) "Assessed tax"- means tax, interest and penalty determined as being payable under an order of assessment or reassessment under the relevant Act; (vii) "Dispute" means an Appeal, Revision, Review, Reference, Writ Petition, or Special Leave Petition, arising out of any order passed under the relevant Act and pending before, as the case may be, the following:- (i) The Additional/Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes/State Tax (Appeal); (ii) The Additional/Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes/State tax (Administration); (iii) The Commissioner of Commercial Taxes; (iv) The Commercial Taxes Tribunal; (v) The Central Sales Tax Tribunal (vi) The High Court; (vii) The Supreme Court of India; Explanation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2 Arrear amount of assessed tax upto Financial year 2017-18. 40% of the difference between the tax component of assessed tax and the amount of tax already paid (60% waiver) 10% of the unpaid amount of interest and penalty in that statutory order (90% waiver) 3 Arrear amount related to statutory declarations / Forms / certificates upto Financial Year 2017-18 50% of the unpaid amount of tax calculated after the deduction of (50% waiver) (a) The amount of tax involved in the value of acceptable Forms/ Certificates/Declarations submitted by the applicant before the prescribed authority under this Act, and (b) The amount already paid towards the total arrear of tax. 10% of the unpaid amount of interest and penalty as per statutory order (90% waiver) 4 Any arrear in dispute other than mentioned in Sl. No. 1, 2 and 3 40% of tax in dispute provided the same has not been declared/considered in any order/ assessment/reassessment (60% waiver) 10% of the unpaid amount of interest and penalty as per statutory order (90% waiver) Provided that, where the amount of tax involved in the value of acceptable forms/ certificates/ declarations, alongwith the amount already paid, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Crore, pays as pre-deposit pending appeal Rs. 30 lakhs, his balance tax liability is Rs. 70 lakhs; benefit which is to accrue to him cannot be computed at 60% of Rs. 70 lakhs i.e. Rs.42 lakhs. If this is done, then he would be worse off by paying Rs.30 lakhs (as he would get a lesser benefit of only Rs. 42 lakhs under the scheme) than an assessee who does not pay any amount pursuant to demand and gets waiver of 60% of Rs.1 Crore i.e. Rs. 60 Lakhs. This could never have been the intention of the scheme. Similar view has been taken in Vassu Enterprises & analogous cases v. Union of India & Ors. (2023) 11 GSTR 21 while interpreting the Central Amnesty Scheme i.e. Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019, it was held:- '28. Even from a plain reading of Section 124 (2), it would be evident that the amount of deposit made during enquiry, investigation or audit is required to be deducted after extending relief under section 124 (1) of the Scheme and at the time of issuing statement indicating the amount payable by a declarant. Even otherwise, the intent of legislature cannot be in such a way that an assesse who pays some amount either suo motu prior to demand or afte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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