Refund claim on Input Tax Credit must be decided independently once related proceedings are withdrawn.

Where a refund claim for accrued Input Tax Credit had been kept aside as premature because related writ petitions were pending, the Madras High Court held that withdrawal of those connected proceedings required the refund application to be examined independently on its own merits. The earlier dismissal could not continue to rest on a challenge that had been abandoned, and the authorities were directed to decide the refund request separately within the time fixed by the Court. The assessee therefore succeeded, and the premature dismissal was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the refund application for accrued Input Tax Credit under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006, read with the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, ought to be considered independently on merits after the connected writ petitions were withdrawn.

Analysis: The dismissal of the writ petitions as premature rested on the pendency of connected proceedings challenging the statutory time limits governing Input Tax Credit claims. Once those connected writ petitions were withdrawn, the Court held that the refund application submitted on 28.06.2018 had to be examined on its own footing, without being controlled by the withdrawn challenge to the CGST and TNGST provisions. The earlier order was therefore required to be interfered with so that the respondents could decide the refund request independently.

Conclusion: The refund application was directed to be considered independently and on its own merits, and the dismissal of the writ petition as premature was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded, and the authorities were required to decide the refund claim within the time fixed by the Court.

Ratio Decidendi: Where connected proceedings forming the basis of a premature dismissal are withdrawn, a refund claim must be adjudicated independently on its own merits and cannot be denied solely by reference to the abandoned challenge.

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