In a recent judgement, the High Court (HC) of Bombay has held that the completion of the Investigation is not a condition precedent for eligibility under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019.
Access Platform Equipments Limited, the Petitioner had applied under seeking benefit thereunder SVLDR Scheme 2019 which has been denied to the Petitioner by the Respondents on the ground that investigation is pending against the Petitioner.
The Petitioner is engaged in the business of the provision of supply of goods and services and failed to discharge the service tax liability for the Financial Years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18. Though the Petitioner had paid the service tax for the year 2015-16, it was paid late, and that too without interest.
The Deputy Commissioner (Anti Evasion), CGST, called upon the Petitioner to submit the documents in respect of the Financial Years 2014-15 to 2017-18 for verification. The Petitioner filed declarations under the scheme named Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019, for the Financial Years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 under the category “Voluntary Disclosure”.
The Designated Committee under the act rejected the declaration by issuing Form SVLDRS-1 on the ground of “Ineligible for Voluntary Disclosure under Section 125 (1)(f)(i) of the Finance Act, 2019”. The Petitioner made representation to the Joint Commissioner, CGST and Central Excise, Belapur and was permitted to file a fresh declaration, which the Petitioner did on 15 January 2020 under the category ‘Voluntary Disclosure’. This declaration was rejected on the ground that an “Investigation already initiated by the Department”.
The Division Bench of this Court, in the case of New India Civil Erectors, have held that the pendency of the investigation/enquiry on 30 June 2019 referred to Section 125 of the Act of 2019 is also relevant for the voluntary disclosure category under Section 125 (1)(f)(i) of the Act of 2019.
A two-member bench comprising of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Abhay Ahuja observed that the Petitioner is entitled to succeed as there is no other ground except the above on which the Petitioner is held to be ineligible under the Scheme.
The Court quashed and set aside the impugned rejections of the declarations filed by the Petitioner on 15 January 2020 under the Scheme of 2019 and the Respondents will process the declarations filed by the Petitioner for the years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 as per law.
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