The Orissa High Court directed the Revenue to lift the attachment under Section 79(1) (c) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 as Service Tax relief approved under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019(SVLDR).
By means of the petition, the petitioner, M/s. Bhagwati Agency, urged the Court to quash the attachment as imposed in pursuance to Section 79(1) (c) of the CGST Act, 2017.
It has been admitted by the petitioner that he had outstanding on account of the Service Tax to the extent of Rs. 24 lakhs. But in terms of the scheme called Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019, his proposal for tax relief was approved by the authority. Tax reliefs to the extent of Rs.14 lakhs was accorded in favour of the petitioner, reducing the outstanding to Rs.9 lakhs.
The Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that during that time the petitioner was facing serious financial difficulties and immediately thereafter his business faced disastrous consequence of the pandemic. For those reasons, he could not arrange the fund to deposit the said amount as determined.
For the said default, the said attachment was imposed. The counsel has made a proposal in the course of his submission that the petitioner would by a single stroke pay Rs.9 lakhs if the attachment is lifted for a short term and he would make a formal prayer for consideration of extension of time for enabling the petitioner derive the tax benefit, as stated.
The Standing Counsel seriously opposed such proposal and argued that the pandemic cannot be treated as the ground of the non-deposit. The last date of making such deposit under the said scheme was 31.01.2020 and that time, there had been no surge of pandemic.
The Court of Justices S. Talapatra and Savitri Ratho observed that “Having appreciated the facts and the submission as advanced we think that in the interest of the revenue, the revenue shall lift the attachment temporarily in favour of the petitioner as the petitioner has undertaken to deposit the sum of Rs.9 lakhs.”
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates
