Sabka Vishwas Scheme verification must consider challans and recovered amounts before fixing liability.

Under the Sabka Vishwas Scheme, the designated committee must verify a declarant's materials and the department's records before fixing the amount payable, and must deduct any proven pre-deposits or amounts recovered during inquiry, investigation, audit, or appellate proceedings. Where Form SVLDRS-3 was issued without examining the challans produced by the declarant and the recovery-related material reflected in the departmental notice, the determination was unsustainable to that extent. The Bombay High Court therefore quashed the impugned Form SVLDRS-3 insofar as it ignored those claimed deductions and directed fresh verification of the claim.

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Issues: Whether the amount determined in Form SVLDRS-3 could be sustained when the declarant's challans and the amounts stated to have been recovered during investigation were not examined and adjusted under the Scheme.

Analysis: The declarant produced challans within the time given by the authorities and also relied on the department's own show-cause notice indicating recovery of a substantial amount during investigation. The Scheme required the designated committee to verify the declaration on the basis of the material furnished by the declarant and the records available with the department, and any pre-deposit or deposit made in the course of appellate proceedings, inquiry, investigation, or audit had to be deducted while determining the amount payable. The verification function was not adjudicatory in nature, but it still required examination of the material placed before the committee. Since the impugned statement was issued without examining or verifying the challans and the recovery-related material, the determination was unsustainable to that extent.

Conclusion: The challenge succeeds. The impugned Form SVLDRS-3, to the extent it fixed the amount payable without considering the claimed pre-deposits and recoveries, was quashed and the designated committee was directed to re-verify the petitioner's claim afresh.

Ratio Decidendi: While processing a declaration under the Sabka Vishwas Scheme, the designated committee must verify the declarant's material and departmental records and must deduct proven pre-deposits or recoveries before determining the amount payable.

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