Where the taxpayer had voluntarily intimated short payment and...

Where the taxpayer had voluntarily intimated short payment and its willingness to discharge tax much before any enforcement action, the essential preconditions of fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression were not made out, rendering invocation of s.74 GST impermissible; consequently, denial of ITC by applying s.39(9) could not be sustained, and the proceedings were quashed. The taxpayer's earlier payment at a higher rate treating the supply as composite 'to buy peace' was held not to operate as waiver or estoppel; it could still raise the composite-versus-individual supply issue before the competent authority, which must decide it on merits without relying on the prior admission. - HC