The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) found M/s Gurukripa Developers & Infrastructures guilty of profiteering, but no penalty was imposed.
The Applicant alleged that the Respondent, M/s Gurukripa Developers & Infrastructures had not passed on the benefit of additional Input Tax Credit (ITC) to the Applicant as well as other home buyers.
The DGAP reported that the Respondent had denied the benefit of ITC to the Applicants and other buyers amounting to Rs. 38,29,753 pertaining to the period with effect from July 1, 2017 to August 31, 2018, and had thus indulged in profiteering and violation of the provisions of Section 171 (1) of the Act.
The Authority headed by President Dr. B.N. Sharma held that the Respondent had not passed on the benefit of additional Input Tax Credit (ITC) to the Applicants as well as other home buyers who had purchased them in his Project for the period from July 1, 2017 to August 31, 2018, and hence, the Respondent has violated the provisions of Section 171 (1) of the CGST Act, 2017.
The NAA further said that the penalty prescribed under Section 171 (3A) cannot be imposed on the Respondent retrospectively.
“Since, no penalty provisions were in existence between the period w.e.f. 01.07.2017 to 31.08.2018 when the Respondent had violated the provisions of Section 171 (1), the penalty prescribed under Section 171 (3A) cannot be imposed on the Respondent retrospectively. Accordingly, the notice dated 01.04.2019 issued to the Respondent for imposition of penalty under Section 122 (1) (i) is hereby withdrawn and the present penalty proceedings launched against him are accordingly dropped,” the NAA said.
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