The Delhi High Court held that the benefit under Form SVLDRS-1 cannot be availed if the amount of Excise Duty is neither quantified nor communicated.
The petitioner, M/s No.1 World Wide Express Pvt. Ltd. had filed the application under the SVLDRS, however, no response thereto has been received from the respondent. The petitioner claims that the respondent has neither rejected nor accepted the proposal of the petitioner company, however, in February 2020, petitioner was orally informed that the same has been rejected as the Deputy Commissioner till date has not calculated any duty/tax liability. The petitioner states that a copy of such order, however, has not been supplied to the petitioner.
Ms.Preeti Goel, the counsel for the petitioner submits that though no reason for rejection has till date been communicated to the petitioner, the above orally stated reason is also incorrect inasmuch as by a notice addressed by the Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise and Service Tax, CGST, Delhi (South) to M/s Carex Cargo Express Private Limited, a demand of Rs.87,88,387/- excluding interest towards service tax liability and GST liability to the tune of Rs.1,34,25,218/- excluding interest has been raised and demanded against the petitioner. She submits that therefore, there was a ‘quantified’ demand of tax against the petitioner and the petitioner cannot be denied the benefit of SVLDRS.
The division bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Navin Chawla held that the application form annexed by the petitioner itself shows its rejection as also the reason for the rejection. The petitioner, therefore, cannot plead ignorance of the same.
The court relied on the decision in the case of Karan Singh vs. Designated Committee Sabka Vishwas Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme and Another wherein it was held that in terms of Section 121(r) of the Finance Act, 2019, the word ‘quantified’ means a written communication of the amount of duty payable under the indirect tax enactment; a unilateral quantification by the petitioner does not render him eligible to avail the benefit of the scheme. It was further held that the benefits of the scheme would be available to only such cases where the Department quantifies the amount and not the Assessee.
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