2017 (8) TMI 627

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....a team of officers from the VAT department under Sections 59 & 60 of the DVAT Act. The premises was sealed and upon deposit of Rs. 70 lakhs the premises was de-sealed by the department on 27th January, 2016. Thus, the address of the Petitioner at Gujrawala Town was well within the knowledge of the VAT authorities. 3. It is the Petitioner's case that it has been complying with all the statutory obligations and has been regularly filing its returns under Section 26 of the DVAT Act. The Returns for the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2015-16 were also filed. 4. On 31st March, 2016, default notices of tax, penalty and interest were issued by the AVATO Ward-72 in respect of the 3rd quarter of 2015-16. The Petitioner challenged the said default notices before this Court in W.P. (C) No.3381/2016. One of the main grounds raised in the said writ petition reads as under: "....The AVATO Ward-72, who does not have the jurisdiction over the petitioner, has passed these default assessment orders without affording any opportunity of hearing to the petitioner....." 5. Even in the said writ petition, one of the Petitioner's grievances was that the extant premises of the Petitioner fell within t....

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....king the Petitioner to attend the hearing on 15th May, 2017 and produce the various books of accounts and other evidences. The said notice gave the Petitioner merely five days to produce the entire record, out of which three days were holidays including the weekend. On 15th May, 2017, the Petitioner wrote a letter to the AVATO Ward-72 and raised its objections relating to the jurisdiction of the said AVATO Ward-72. The Petitioner stated that the issuance of the notices by the said AVATO of Ward-72, would be without jurisdiction. The Petitioner relied upon M/s Samsung India Electronic Pvt. Ltd. v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi & Ors., 2017 (97) VST 417 (Del.) (hereinafter 'Samsung'). In this letter, the Petitioner requested that until the issue of jurisdiction is decided, the matter be kept in abeyance. 8. The AVATO Ward-72 took the position that the issue of its jurisdiction ought to be deemed to have been accepted by the High Court in W.P. (C) No.3381/2016 when the direction for adjudication to be done by the concerned VATO was passed by this Court. Thus, the AVATO Ward-72, presuming that this Court had confirmed his jurisdiction, proceeded to issue default notices of tax, interest and....

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....ssions 12. Mr. Anuj Aggarwal, learned Additional Standing Counsel for the GNCTD, relies upon the short affidavit filed by the Additional Commissioner, Department of Trade and Taxes, GNCTD, to submit that the Petitioner has not participated in the proceedings and has not availed of the opportunity provided to it to submit the documents. Mr. Aggarwal submits that despite the notice dated 9th May, 2017, except merely praying for keeping the matter in abeyance till the issue of jurisdiction is resolved, the Petitioner failed to make any further submissions on merits. According to Mr. Aggarwal, the physical location of the dealer is not the method to determine the jurisdiction of the dealer or the concerned VATO for the purpose of DVAT Act. Since the dealer's principal place of business was earlier registered under the jurisdiction of the AVATO Ward-72, the VATO in the said ward has complete jurisdiction over the firm. According to Mr. Aggarwal, this Court had remanded the matter for consideration and the VATO was obliged to decide both the issues. Mr. Aggarwal, thus submits, that the Court ought to remand back the assessment orders for the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2015-16 to the OHA ....

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....ommissioner in the administration of this Act - (a) the Government may appoint as many Special Commissioners of Value Added Tax, Value Added Tax Officers and such other persons with such designations as the Government thinks necessary; and (b) the Commissioner may, with the previous sanction of the Government, engage and procure the engagement of other persons to assist him in the performance of his duties; in this Act referred to as "Value Added Tax Authorities". (3) The Commissioner and the Value Added Tax authorities shall exercise such powers as may be conferred, and perform such duties as may be required, by or under this Act. (4) The powers exercised by the Value Added Tax authorities for the making of assessments of tax, the computation and imposition of penalties, the computation of interest due or owed, the computation of the entitlement and the amount of any refund, the determination of specific questions under section 84, the making of general rulings under section 85, and the conduct of audit or investigations shall, for the purposes of this Act, be the administrative functions." 14. Under Section 66, the powers of the Commissioner have been delegated to ....