In a major relief to SpiceJet, the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the GST department to consider the airline’s plea of paying the tax dues in instalments.
The respondents, GST authorities issued a notice in late July, asking SpiceJet to pay tax liabilities of Rs 80.6 crore and furnish details of movable and immovable properties, warning that they would initiate recovery proceedings if the payment was not made.
The excise and taxation department of Haryana on July 27 sent a show-cause notice to SpiceJet saying that the company hadn’t paid tax dues of Rs 80.6 crore which included the period of FY20, FY21 and FY22 (April-June). The department said if the dues were not cleared by 4 August, it would start recovery proceedings against the company.
SpiceJet responded to the show cause notice saying that since the company was facing an acute cash crunch due to the adverse impact of the first and second wave of Covid-19, it would be allowed to pay the tax liabilities in 24 equal monthly instalments.
Mr. Akshay Bhan the counsel for the petitioner, SpiceJet submitted that the operations of the petitioner were curtailed not only because of a pandemic but also because of Government control. He states that in this regard a representation/letter has been made to the respondent and he would be satisfied, at this stage, if a direction is issued to the respondent to decide the representation/letter filed by the petitioner.
“We find the prayer of learned Senior counsel for the petitioner to be a fair one. Consequently, we dispose of this writ petition with a direction to the respondent to decide the representation/letter by passing a speaking order within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order,” the division bench of Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice Karamjit Singh.
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