Denial of Increased Material / Wage Costs and GST Claim: Patna HC Remands case to BUIDCo’s Chief General Manager [Read Order]

The Patna High Court has remanded the case concerning the denial of increased material, wage costs, and Goods and Service Tax ( GST ) claims back to the Chief General Manager, Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd., Patna. ( BUIDCo )  for reconsideration.

The present Writ Petition has been filed for quashing the Letter No. 787 dated 16.11.2019 (Annexure P6) issued by the Respondent-Executive Engineer, BUIDCo, Patna West, and Patna whereby and where under payment on account of increased prices of material/wages and GST Claim amount (differential tax liability) was denied to the petitioner for works executed under Agreement No. BUIDCo/SIU-2/Yo190/18-16 dated 27.03.2018 and the same is unreasonable, arbitrary and cannot be sustained in the eyes of law.  For a direction upon the BUIDCo’s Chief General Manager to make payment of GST Claim amount (differential tax liability) to the petitioner for works executed under Agreement No. BUIDCo/SIU-2/ Yo-190/18-16 dated 27.03.2018.

 Mr. Akshansh Ankit, representing the petitioner has assailed the order dated 16.11.2019 on the two grounds; one that the order is passed by the Executive Engineer of the respondent-organization who does not have the jurisdiction to pass the said order. That the representation of the petitioner was given to the Chief General Manager, BUIDCo, Patna and; secondly on the ground that without taking into consideration the Clause 35 of the NIT, the authority has rejected the claim of the petitioner without assigning any reasons.

Therefore, counsel has prayed the court to set aside the impugned order and remand the matter back to the competent authority i.e.BUIDCo’s Chief General Manager herein to take a fresh look at the representation made by the petitioner and pass necessary orders in accordance with law.

Mr. Lalit Kishore, senior counsel representing the respondents-BUIDCo. Has stated that he has no objection if the matter is remanded back to the authority concerned for passing orders afresh in accordance with law.

The single member bench of Justice A. Abhishek Reddy observed that the impugned order dated 16.11.2019 was set aside and the matter was remanded back to the Chief General Manager, BUIDCo. For considering the representation dated 27.06.2019. With the above directions, the present Writ Petition stands disposed of.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates