GST deduction from running bills upheld where later invoices were issued after GST commencement and prior precedent controlled.

Deduction of tax from later running bills was treated as governed by the GST regime where the relevant bills and invoices were raised after GST commencement, consistent with an earlier binding decision and the departmental circular. The court accepted that the same issue had already been settled and found no infirmity in applying GST deductions to the petitioner's 2nd and 3rd running bills. Any request for relief under the Sale of Goods Act was left open without adjudication, and the writ petition became infructuous.

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Issues: Whether deduction of tax from the petitioner's 2nd and 3rd running bills was to be governed by the earlier VAT regime or by the Goods and Services Tax regime, and whether the writ petition survived in view of the earlier binding decision on the same question.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the stage at which the transaction was to be treated as taxable for purposes of deduction from running bills. The Court noted that the same issue had already been settled in an earlier decision, where the applicable regime was linked to whether bills and invoices were raised before or after the commencement of the GST regime, and the clarification in the departmental circular had been found consistent with the statutory scheme. In light of that binding determination, the Court found no infirmity in the respondents applying GST deductions to the petitioner's later bills. The request to make a representation for any relief under the Sale of Goods Act was left open and was not adjudicated.

Conclusion: The deduction from the 2nd and 3rd running bills under the GST regime was upheld and the writ petition failed as infructuous.

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