Rainbow Paper Products v. The Union of India and 6 Ors

ORDER

01.08.2024

¶1Heard Mr. S.K. Agarwal, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. S.C. Keyal, learned Standing Counsel, GST for all the respondents.

¶2The present writ petition has been preferred assailing a Demand Notice dated

15.03.2022 issued by the respondent no. 6 to the petitioner whereby the petitioner has been asked to repay an amount of Rs. 2,60,108/-, already Page No.# 3/5 refunded to the petitioner along with interest on the grounds that the industrial unit of the petitioner does not qualify to be an eligible unit as the petitioner after commencement of commercial production discharged entire liability of Central Excise duty by debiting CENVAT Credit Account for the period of operation till June 2017 and thus, there was no question of availment of exemption in terms of Notification no. 20/2007-CE dated 25.04.2017 and to be eligible for budgetary support under budgetary support scheme notified vide Notification dated

05.10.2017, an industrial unit must be eligible for the benefit of Notification no. 20/2007 dated 25.04.2017 and must be availing the said exemption immediately before 01.07.2017.

¶3The learned counsel for the parties have submitted that a batch of writ petitions including a writ petition, W.P.[C] no. 5675/2022 [M/s Sai Enterprises vs. The Union of India and others], involving similar issues like the issues herein, were disposed of by a common order dated 02.03.2023. The relevant excerpts of the said common order dated 02.03.2023 read as under :

¶2One of the issues involved in these batch of writ petitions is whether the units who had utilized their CENVAT credit for the purpose of payment of taxes with reference to the exemption notification dated 25.07.2007, but the stage to pay the taxes by cash after exhausting the CENVAT credit was yet to come, can be construed that the units have availed the benefit under the notification dated

25.07.2007, with reference to the subsequent scheme dated 05.10.2017. If the conclusion would have been that this category of units had availed the benefit under the notification dated 25.07.2007, the implication thereof would be that there would be an entitlement to the benefits as provided under the budgetary scheme dated 05.10.2017 and to the contrary, had the decision been otherwise that they are not the units who have availed the benefits, the consequence may be that they would not be entitled to the benefits under the budgetary scheme dated

05.10.2017. Page No.# 4/5

¶3A communication dated 22.02.2023 from the Government of India, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade made by the Director and addressed to the Commissioner, CBIC, D/o Revenue, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi is placed on record before the Court.

¶4A reading of the said communication dated 22.02.2023 makes it discernible that a decision had been taken that even in respect of those units who had paid their tax dues pursuant to the earlier exemption notification dated 25.07.2007 by utilizing the CENVAT credit, but the stage to pay the further taxes by means of cash was yet to come, would be considered by the authorities to be units who have availed the benefits under the earlier exemption notification dated

25.07.2007.

¶5As the decision contained in the communication dated 22.02.2023 answers the issue that was before the Court that such units should also be considered to be units who have availed the benefits under the exemption notification dated

25.07.2007, we are of the view that, having accepted the contents of the communication dated 22.02.2023, no further adjudication is required in these batch of writ petitions.

¶6The consequence of such units being considered to be units who have availed the benefits under the exemption notification dated 25.07.2007 would be that such units, including the writ petitioners herein, would be entitled to all such entitlements, legal consequences etc of being considered to be units who have availed the benefits under the exemption notification dated 25.07.2007 and the respondent authorities may do the needful accordingly.

¶7In view of the above, all the writ petitions stand closed. However, liberty is granted to the writ petitioners to approach again, if so advised. Interim order, if any, stands vacated.

¶4Both Mr. Agarwal and Mr. Keyal have submitted, in unison, that the observations made in the common order dated 02.03.2023 are squarely Page No.# 5/5 applicable to the case of the petitioner herein.

¶5In view of the similar obtaining fact situation, the instant writ petition is also disposed of in similar terms as the batch of writ petitions were disposed of by the common order dated 02.03.2023 [supra]. The petitioner shall submit a certified copy of this order along with a copy of the common order dated 02.03.2023 before the respondent no. 6 within a period of 2 [two] weeks from today to facilitate the respondent authorities to give due consideration to the case of the petitioner. JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/5 GAHC010120062022 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/4154/2022o RAINBOWoPAPERoPRODUCTSo (oAoUNIToOFoAMASoENTERPRISESoPVT.oLTD)o AoCOMPANYoINCORPORATEDoUNDERoTHEoCOMPANIESoACT,o1956,oHAVING ITSoREGISTEREDoOFFICEoAT,oIIDC,oMORANJANAoINDUSTRIALoAREA,o RANGIAoKAMRUP,oASSAM-781354oANDoINTHEoPRESENToPROCEEDINGSo REP.oBYoRAJESHoBAID,oONEoOFoTHEoDIRECTOR VERSUSo THEoUNIONoOFoINDIAoANDo6oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoINDIA,o MINISTRYoOFoFINANCE,oDEPARTMENToOFoREVENUE,oNORTHoBLOCK,o NEWoDELHI-110001 2:SECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoINDIA oMINISTRYoOFoCOMMERCEoANDoINDUSTRYo oDEPARTMENToOFoINDUSTRIALoPOLICYoANDoPROMOTION oUDYOGoBHAWAN oNEWoDELHI-110107 3:JOINToSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoINDIA o oMINISTRYoOFoCOMMERCEoANDoINDUSTRYo oDEPARTMENToOFoINDUSTRIALoPOLICYoANDoPROMOTION oUDYOGoBHAWAN oNEWoDELHI-110107 4:THEoUNDERoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoGOVERNMENToOFoINDIA o oMINISTRYoOFoFINANCEo oDEPARTMENToOFoREVENUE Page No.# 2/5 NORTH BLOCK NEW DELHI-110001 5:THE PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER CENTRAL GOODS AND SERVICE TAX 5TH FLOOR GST BHAWAN KEDAR ROAD FANCY BAZAR GUWAHATI-781001 6:ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER GST AND CENTRAL EXCISE GUWAHATI I DIVISION GST BHAWAN KEDAR ROAD FANCY BAZAR GUWAHATI-781001 7:THE SUPERINTENDENT (ANTI EVASION) CENTRAL GOODS AND SERVICE TAX GUWAHAT Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. S K AGARWAL, Advocate for the Respondent : SC, GST, BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN DEV CHOUDHURY