Tax concession conditions and limited set-off restriction upheld; commercial invoice disputes refused writ relief under Article 226.

A tax concession may validly be granted subject to statutory conditions, and a limited curtailment of set-off under rule 42 of the Gujarat Sales Tax Rules, 1970 was upheld as consistent with the concessional scheme. The fact that the restriction reduced set-off by 10 per cent, rather than a smaller margin, did not alter the legal principle. Claims for corrected invoices, statutory forms, and payment were treated as ordinary commercial disputes between the suppliers and the petitioners, and such matters were found unsuitable for writ relief under Article 226. The challenge failed and relief was declined, leaving the petitioners to pursue other appropriate remedies.

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Issues: (i) Whether rule 42 of the Gujarat Sales Tax Rules, 1970, insofar as it restricted set-off of sales tax to 90 per cent where the tax was not separately shown in the invoice, was invalid. (ii) Whether relief could be granted in writ jurisdiction in respect of the petitioners' claims for corrected invoices, forms, and monetary payment arising out of the supply transactions.

Issue (i): The challenged rule operated in the setting of a concessional set-off scheme. A concession in tax law may be granted with conditions and may validly be curtailed to a limited extent. The rule was treated as substantially similar to the scheme previously upheld by the Supreme Court, and the fact that the abridgement was 10 per cent rather than 1 per cent did not alter the principle.

Conclusion: The challenge to rule 42 failed and was answered against the petitioners.

Issue (ii): The claims for corrected invoices, statutory forms, and payment were treated as commercial disputes between the suppliers and the petitioners. Such disputes are ordinarily not entertained in the exercise of extraordinary writ jurisdiction under Article 226.

Conclusion: Relief on these claims was declined, leaving the petitioners to pursue any available appropriate forum.

Final Conclusion: The petitions were dismissed in their entirety, and the impugned set-off restriction was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: A tax concession may be granted subject to a valid statutory curtailment, and ordinary commercial disputes are not ordinarily amenable to writ relief under Article 226.

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