Pre-deposit under Sabka Vishwas Scheme may include payments made after notice but before adjudication.

A deposit made after the show cause notice but before adjudication can be treated as a valid pre-deposit under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019 where the scheme and its circular contemplate recognition of such payments. The authorities must assess supporting challans and correspondence in a practical manner and cannot reject a declaration on a mere technical doubt about attribution of the payment when the material shows the disputed amount was paid before adjudication. In a settlement-oriented legacy dispute scheme, undue technicality is inconsistent with the intended objective of resolving disputes and encouraging closure.

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Issues: Whether the petitioners' deposit of Rs. 23,07,200 made after the show cause notice but before adjudication was liable to be treated as a pre-deposit for the purpose of the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019, and whether the rejection of the declaration under the Scheme was justified.

Analysis: The petitioners had placed challans and supporting correspondence to establish payment of the disputed amount before adjudication. The Scheme and the circular issued in relation to it contemplated recognition of pre-deposits made after issuance of the show cause notice. The authorities did not dispute the applicability of that circular, and the rejection was based only on a technical doubt about attribution of the payment, without any adequate reason or consideration of the material submitted by the petitioners. In a scheme intended to resolve legacy disputes and encourage settlement, the approach was required to be practical and not unduly technical.

Conclusion: The deposit of Rs. 23,07,200 was required to be treated as a valid pre-deposit under the Scheme, and the rejection of the petitioners' declaration was unjustified.

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