Court orders refund of excess tax, cancels attachment order, directs petitioner's account be accessible.

The High Court held that recovery of the excessive amount by the First Appellate Authority was premature as the petitioner had the right to appeal before the Appellate Tribunal under Section 112 of the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The Court directed the authorities to refund the excess amount of Rs. 1,41,10,717 to the petitioner within 15 days and canceled the bank account attachment order, allowing the petitioner to operate the account. The Court disposed of the application and scheduled the matter for a hearing in March 2020.

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Issues:
Recovery of excessive amount post orders by First Appellate Authority under Section 112 of West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Analysis:
The petitioner filed a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, challenging the recovery of Rs. 1,41,10,717 post orders dated September 30, 2019, and October 18, 2019, by the First Appellate Authority. The petitioner contended that they have the right to appeal before the Learned Tribunal under Section 112 of the said Act within three months of the First Appellate Authority's order, upon payment of 20% of the remaining tax amount in dispute. Since there was no Appellate Tribunal, the writ petition was filed before the High Court. The Court noted that recovery should not take place when an appeal provision exists, especially in cases like classification disputes. The authorities were deemed to have acted hastily by recovering the entire amount within the appeal period. The State's counsel argued that recovery was initiated due to a provisional attachment, but the Court held that recovery should have been limited to 20% as per Section 112(8)(b) of the Act. The Court directed the authorities to refund the excessive amount to the petitioner within 15 days and canceled the bank account attachment order, allowing the petitioner to operate the account.

The Court disposed of the application, stating that since no affidavit-in-opposition was called for, the allegations in the application were not deemed admitted by the respondents. The respondents were given four weeks to file an affidavit-in-opposition in the main writ petition, with a provision for the petitioner to file an affidavit-in-reply within two weeks thereafter. The matter was scheduled for the monthly list of cases for March 2020 under 'for hearing'.

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