The Bombay High court directed the Designated Committee to consider a fresh declaration and grant the consequential relief under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019 (SLVDRS).
The Petitioner, RS HR Team Solutions Private Limited is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and is engaged in the business of providing manpower recruitment and payroll processing services. Being a service provider, the petitioner got itself registered as a service provider under the Finance Act, 1994.
The petitioners sought the quashing of orders rejecting the declarations of the petitioners under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019 and further seeks a direction to the respondents to reconsider the said declarations in terms of the scheme and grant the consequential reliefs. Further prayer made is for a direction to the respondents not to proceed with the show cause notice issued.
The issue raised is in respect of eligibility of the petitioners or maintainability of the declaration to avail the benefits of the scheme under the category of investigation, inquiry, or audit on the ground that service tax dues of the petitioners for the related period was not quantified on or before 30th June 2019 is no longer res-Integra.
All that would be required for being eligible under the above category is a written communication which will mean a written communication of the amount of duty payable including a letter intimating duty demand or duty liability admitted by the person concerned during inquiry, investigation, or audit. For eligibility under the scheme, the quantification need not be on completion of an investigation by issuing a show-cause notice or the amount that may be determined upon the adjudication.
The division bench of Justice Milind N. Jadhav and Ujjal Bhuyan noted that the quantum of service tax liability of the petitioner was the amount of service tax liability of the petitioners quantified in terms of the scheme on the admission of the petitioners prior to the cut off date of 30.06.2019 i.e. Rs. 6 crores approximately which roughly corresponds to the declared figure of Rs. 6,13,91,021.00 in the second declaration. In such circumstances, rejection of the second declaration of the petitioners on the ground of ineligibility is not justified.
Therefore, the court directed the matter back to the Designated Committee to consider the declaration of the petitioners afresh as a valid declaration in terms of the scheme under the category of investigation, enquiry, and audit and thereafter grant the consequential relief to the petitioners.
The court further directed the Designated Committee to provide an opportunity of hearing to the petitioners and thereafter pass a speaking order with due communication to the petitioners.
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