Karnataka High Court allows Adjustment of Excess Amount paid as Pre-deposit under SLVDR Scheme [Read Order]

The Karnataka High Court allowed the adjustment of excess amount paid as pre-deposit under SLVDR Scheme.

The petitioner is engaged in the production of jaggery powder and khandasari sugar and has been registered with the Central Excise Department. Both khandasari sugar as well as jaggery powder were exempted under the Central Excise Act and the same continued under the GST regime also.

The petitioner sought the quashing of form No.SVLDRS-3 passed by respondent and for direction to the said respondents to permit adjustment of excess amounts deposited by the petitioner and to issue a discharge certificate in respect of another case pertaining to the petitioner without insisting on any further payments and for other reliefs.

The single bench of Justice S.R.Krishna Kumar ruled that merely because a separate declaration will have to be necessarily filed by the assessee for each case, in the absence of a specific bar/prohibition for consolidating/clubbing two cases and by making mutual adjustment of the disputed amounts deposited by the assessee either in the SVLDRS or its Rules, it cannot be said that mutual adjustment in respect of the very same assessee and in relation to the same subject matter and the same commodity, albeit for two different periods of time is impermissible, particularly having regard to the aims and objectives of the scheme, which is to provide amnesty to the assessee and resolution of disputes between the assessee and the department.

“I am of the view that the contention of the respondents that two separate show-cause notices cannot be clubbed together for the purpose of SVLDRS cannot be accepted especially when the respondents have given the benefits/relief under the SVLDRS in favour of the petitioner in respect of both the show-cause notices,” the court said.

The court has directed Respondent to adjust the excess amount deposited by the petitioner towards the amount demanded from the petitioner in Annexure-H dated 13.12.2019 and issue a discharge certificate in favour of the petitioner in respect of the second case of the petitioner for the period 16.09.2015 to 30.06.2015 and take necessary steps in this regard as expeditiously as possible.

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