The Calcutta High Court allowed filing of fresh calculations to avail refund in the matter of GST Refund Claim in Transition Phase.
The writ petition has been filed alleging inaction of the West Bengal State Rural Development Agency (‘WBSRDA’), which is an agency under the department of Panchayat and Rural Development. The writ petition has been filed for a direction upon the WBSRDA to pay the GST claim to the petitioner, pursuant to the communication of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, dated June 6, 2018.
The petitioner, Sondeep Paul, submitted that the calculation was as per the guidelines of the Union of India, but the WBSRDA has failed to apply the correct parameters in this regard which was forwarded by the Union of India on the basis of a calculation made under the Rajasthan VAT Law.
It is submitted by the Advocate for the WBSRDA that the parameters laid down as per the calculation of the Rajasthan VAT Law forwarded by the Government of India along with the communication dated June 6, 2018, a format has been created by the WBSRDA in order to facilitate the refund of GST.
According to the Union of India, the impact of the GST calculation submitted by the petitioner was not in terms of the Memorandum dated June 6, 2018. The Union of India reiterated the procedure to be followed by the States and the Union Territories while processing the GST related claims/payments.
According to the Union of India, the calculation made by the petitioner did not factor in the subsumed taxes provided by paragraph A(vii) of the circular dated June 6, 2018. Therefore, the calculation of the petitioner was found to be erroneous by the Union of India.
Further submission of the Advocate for the Union of India was that the petitioner be directed to submit a fresh calculation with the exact additional liability by factoring in the subsumed taxes as detailed in paragraph A(vii) of the circular dated June 6, 2018 and that if the petitioner applies in the said format as per the directions of the Union of India dated June 6, 2018, and furnishes necessary documents in this regard, the GST claim of the petitioner shall be processed.
The Coram comprising of Justice Shampa Sarkar, noted that “As the claims were made at a transitional phase when GST had just been introduced, it is expected that some teething problems will be faced by the claimants. As such, the executive heads of the respective divisions are expected to familiarize the claimants with the procedure and the calculations.”
“Once the petitioner submits the calculations with the necessary corrections and documents, the same shall be processed by the WBSRDA as also by its counter-part in the centre, for refund of the GST claims” the Court observed.
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