Court quashes reassessment order due to absence of assessment order under Vat Act

The Court allowed both Writ Petitions, emphasizing the absence of an assessment order required under the Chhattisgarh Vat Act. Without a valid assessment order, re-assessment proceedings could not be initiated. Therefore, the orders of the Commercial Vat Tribunal, the Appellate Authorities, and the reassessment order were set aside and quashed.

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Issues involved:
The challenge to the orders passed by the Chhattisgarh Commercial Tax Tribunal, Raipur dismissing the appeal against the order disallowing Input Tax Rebate (ITR) in respect of GST purchases made from certain companies.

Summary:

Issue 1: Challenge to Tribunal Orders

The petitioner challenged the orders of the Chhattisgarh Commercial Tax Tribunal, Raipur, dismissing the appeal against the disallowance of Input Tax Rebate (ITR) on GST purchases from specific companies. The Assistant Commissioner initiated re-assessment proceedings under the Chhattisgarh Vat Act 2005, disallowing ITR on the basis that sellers were bogus dealers. The Additional Commissioner and the Commercial Tax Tribunal upheld the decision, leading to the filing of two Writ Petitions.

Issue 2: Maintainability of Writ Petitions

The State raised objections regarding the maintainability of the Writ Petitions, citing statutory alternative remedies available to the petitioner under Section 55 for preferring a reference. The State argued that the petitioner had appeared before the Assistant Commissioner during re-assessment proceedings and requested a fresh assessment, making the objection to jurisdiction belated. Additionally, the State contended that the Writ Petitions were filed beyond the prescribed time for availing the remedy of reference.

Issue 3: Applicability of Division Bench Judgments

Although the State did not dispute that the issues in the present cases were covered by Division Bench judgments, they highlighted that these judgments were under challenge before the Supreme Court. However, as there was no interim order affecting the operation of the Division Bench judgments, the Court found that the petitioner should not be relegated to avail statutory alternative remedies.

Judgment:

The Court allowed both Writ Petitions, emphasizing that there was no assessment order passed by the respondent as required under the Chhattisgarh Vat Act. Without a proper assessment order, re-assessment proceedings could not have been initiated. Consequently, the orders of the Commercial Vat Tribunal, the Appellate Authorities, and the reassessment order were set aside and quashed.

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