Fast Track Revisional Authority Accepted Documents but Recorded Non-Production: Calcutta HC Remands VAT Case [Read Order]

In a recent ruling, the Calcutta High Court held that when a tax authority accepts documents submitted by an assessee, it cannot later record that the same documents were not produced. The court found such a contradiction in the order passed by the Fast Track Revisional Authority and remanded the matter for fresh consideration.

ALD Automotive Private Limited, the petitioner, filed a writ petition challenging the order dated 26 June 2024 passed by the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal, which had upheld an earlier decision of the Fast Track Revisional Authority.

The dispute arose from a best judgment assessment made ex parte by the assessing authority under the West Bengal Value Added Tax Act, 2003. The petitioner did not initially respond to the assessment notices but later pursued the matter through appeals and revision.

The petitioner approached the Revisional Authority after its appeal was rejected. During the revisional proceedings, the revenue filed a verification report stating that certain Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims could not be verified due to lack of original invoices and other supporting documents.

The petitioner was allowed to file a rebuttal and submitted documents including original tax invoices, payment registers, and party ledgers. These were observed as received in the Revisional Authority’s order but the same order also recorded that the petitioner had failed to produce the original tax invoices, creating a factual contradiction.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that all relevant documents had indeed been submitted with the rebuttal and that the Revisional Authority’s conflicting statements required review.

The division bench comprising Chief JusticeT.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) observed that the contradiction in the Revisional Authority’s order regarding document submission needed to be resolved through factual verification. It also pointed out that the tribunal had not considered the full scope of the petitioner’s grounds, including the issue of limitation and procedural irregularities.

The court found it appropriate to grant another opportunity and remanded the case to the West Bengal Commercial Taxes Appellate and Revisional Board for a fresh decision on all issues, including those raised in the original revision application and rebuttal.

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