A division bench of the Delhi High Court has directed to issue ‘C’ Forms for 2016-17 where assessment for 2016-17 was finalized and purchases accepted but the application for issuance of ‘C’ Forms was rejected saying that system does not allow it as the Sales against ‘C’ Forms was not filled in the column prescribed.
The petitioner, is a registered dealer under the CST Act, had purchased goods in the course of interstate transactions against “C” Forms. By virtue of Section 8(4) of the CST Act, the respondent is obliged to issue Form “C” in respect of the purchases made on the strength of his Registration Certificate under CST Act.
Justice Mukta Gupta and JusticeNeena Bansal Krishnaobserved that the sole reason for declining the Form “C” is not that the petitioner is not entitled but merely that the system does not permit the downloading of “C” Form.
“Rule 5(4) (i) of the CST Delhi Rules is not attracted in the facts of this case. There was no failure on the part of the Petitioner to furnish a return, including reconciliation return or return in accordance with the provisions of law or in payment of tax due according to such return. In fact, the tax demand was “Nil” and there was no loss on account of Tax revenue to the Department,” the Court said.
While concluding, the bench added that “While in present day and age, technology has immensely facilitated the business transactions but it cannot be permitted to take over completely and prevent the genuine entitlements of the petitioner to be denied merely on the technical ground that the system does not so permit. The systems have been created purely for facilitating and simplifying the business transactions and cannot be self defeating. The respondent cannot plead its helplessness on the ground of the system not enabling it to do so. Once the petitioner is held to be entitled to “C” Form, the same cannot be denied for technical or administrative reasons as has been observed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in the decision of State of H.P. v. Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd. (2005) 6 SCC 499. 20. The Writ petition is accordingly allowed and the respondent is directed to furnish the Form “C” for the Financial Year 2016-2017 to the petitioner within 3 months.”
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