The Supreme Court while refusing to issue directives on extending the GST amnesty scheme said that the policy decision is exclusively within the domain of the government.
The petitioner, Satyakam Arya challenged the notification issued by the GST council on June 24, 2020 which had given time till September 30, 2020 for filing of returns between July 2017 and July 2020, rounding off the late fee at Rs.500.
In case of any subsequent delay, a late fee of Rs.50 per day had been prescribed as penalty. It asked for an extension of the scheme by two months, besides reimbursement of the late fee already collected.
Advocate Aviral Saxena on behalf of the petitioner had argued that small traders had not been able to avail of these schemes because they neither had the infrastructure like big business houses nor had they the liberty to step out and do the needful because of the lockdown last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The division bench comprising justices Dhananjaya Y Chadrachud and MR Shah dismissed a petition which has urged the court to direct the Central government and the GST council to extend the amnesty scheme, giving more time to small businesses and MSMEs to file their returns.
“The question is entirely of policy. How can a court interfere with this under Article 32 (writ jurisdiction)? These are even otherwise concessions granted as per a policy decision. These are not matters of rights. We cannot issue a mandamus to the government in an amnesty scheme,” the court said.
The bench further said, “In our view, these reliefs, as sought in the petition, pertain in the realm of policy decisions. It would be inappropriate for this court to entertain a petition of this nature, such as the extension of the amnesty scheme; a cap on the late fee to be collected; exemption of late fee paid for a period between March 25, 2020, and June 30, 2020, and refund of the amount already collected towards the late fee.”
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