In a major ruling the Kerala High Court observed that there is no Jurisdiction vested on Lok Ayukta to check Correctness of Order passed by Assessing Authority (AA) on Settlement of Tax Arrears under Amnesty Scheme.
The issue for consideration is whether the Lok Ayukta can adjudicate the correctness of the order passed by the assessing authority rejecting the option for settling arrears of sales tax under the Amnesty Scheme.
The Revenue and Sales Tax authorities of the State filed the writ petition challenging the report passed by the Kerala Lok Ayukta, setting aside the order of the assessing authority rejecting the option exercised by the complainants for settling the arrears of sales tax under the Amnesty Scheme-2020 and declaring that the complainants are entitled to opt for the Amnesty Scheme.
The complainants before the Lok Ayukta, who are husband and wife, are the Directors of M/s. Welgate Video Private Limited. The Managing Director, submitted an option for payment of arrears of sales tax under the Amnesty Scheme-2020; but the same was rejected by the Sales Tax Officer.
The petitioners assail the order of the Lok Ayukta on merits and on the ground of jurisdictional infirmity. According to the petitioners, the revenue recovery proceedings are initiated against the complainants to recover the amounts legally due to the Revenue and after having recovered the said amounts through the machinery under the Kerala Revenue Recovery Act, 1968, the complainants cannot be granted the benefit of Amnesty Scheme-2020 for the same amount, since such payment cannot be considered as payment of outstanding arrears either fully or partially.
If orders passed by quasi-judicial functionaries exercising powers under a statute are for any reason untenable in law, resort must be had to the remedies under the statute and the complainants cannot bypass the procedure and approach the Lok Ayukta. The Lok Ayukta is a creation of the statute and has no inherent jurisdiction. It cannot assume any jurisdiction otherwise confirmed by the Lok Ayukta Act.
The Bench of Chief Justice observed that “The Lok Ayukta has no jurisdiction to decide the correctness of the order rejecting the option for settling the arrears under the Amnesty Scheme-2020.”
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