TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (2) TMI 726
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....,739 under the CST Act collected from the petitioner and deposited by the seller along with appropriate interest on such refund amount; C. Ex parte ad interim relief in terms of prayer B may kindly be granted; D. Such further relief(s) as deemed fit in the facts and circumstances of the case may kindly be granted in the interest of justice for which act of kindness your petitioner shall forever pray." 2 We have heard Mr. Uchit Sheth, the learned counsel appearing for the writ applicant and Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, the learned A.G.P. appearing for the respondents. The affidavit-in-reply filed on behalf of the respondents is ordered to be taken on record. 3 The principal argument of Mr. Sheth is that the respondents have wrongly declined to refund the amount of excess tax collected and deposited with them despite the fact that the High Court of Bombay in the case of the writ applicant itself in the Writ Petition No.2923 of 2019 decided on 17th December 2020 has directed the respondents to issue necessary "C" Forms to the writ applicant. The order passed by the Bombay High Court upon which strong reliance has been placed by the learned counsel appearing for the writ....
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.... raised following denial of 'C' forms. Some of the petitioners were engaged in manufacturing process, some in mining activities and some others in power generation. They had purchased high speed diesel by way of inter-state sale which is used in the manufacturing, mining and generation of end product goods. Admittedly, their end products do not come within the definition of 'goods' under section 2(d) of the CST Act. In that context, Jharkhand High Court referred to the case of Printers (Mysore) Limited (supra) and held that the reasonings given therein were fully applicable. The word 'goods' appearing in the second half of section 8(3)(b) of the CST Act may not necessarily mean the goods as defined under section 2(d) of the CST Act. Further, registration of a dealer under section 7(2) of the CST Act is not subject to any liability of the dealer to pay tax. Jharkhand High Court approved the view taken by the Punjab & Haryana High Court in Carpo Power Limited (supra). Jharkhand High Court, therefore, affirmed the interim orders whereby directions were issued for issuance of 'C' forms to the petitioners. 23. It may be mentioned that against the....
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....s that the dealer i.e., the petitioner would not be entitled to use any 'C' forms for transactions after 01.07.2017. 7. Mr. Nankani had elaborately taken us to the provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 as well as the provisions of the Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act, 2002. He has also taken us to the judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court in Carpo Power Limited (supra). 8. After examining the case of the petitioner vis-a-vis the judgment in Carpo Power Limited (supra), we are of the prima facie view that the aforesaid decision may be applicable to the case of the petitioner. That apart, Special Leave Petition filed by the State of Haryana against the aforesaid decision was dismissed by the Supreme Court holding that there was no legal and valid ground for interference. 9. In view of the above, there shall be stay of the impugned order dated 05.03.2020 till the returnable date and as a consequence respondents are directed to issue the necessary 'C' forms on the basis of the registration certificate. 10. Stand over to 27.10.2020." 25. Thus having regard to the above and upon due consideration, we feel that a case....
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....ble to issue 'C' forms in respect of high speed diesel procured for mining purpose through interstate trade. The court has further held that in the event of the petitioners having had to pay any amount on account of the respondents' wrongful refusal to issue 'C' forms, the petitioners shall be entitled to refund and/or adjustment from the concerned authorities who had collected excess tax. The court further directed the concerned authorities to process such claim within twelve weeks of the same being made by the petitioners in writing and the petitioners furnishing the requisite documents/forms. 17. In the present case, in the absence of 'C' forms having been issued by the Rajasthan authorities, the respondent authorities have collected excess tax from the seller - Reliance Industries Limited, who in turn has collected the same from the petitioners. Therefore, in terms of the above order passed by the Rajasthan High Court, once the Rajasthan authorities issue C forms against the sales made by Reliance Industries Limited to the petitioners and the petitioners produce the requisite documents/forms before the respondent authorities, the respondent ....
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....im and then pay the amount so refunded to the petitioners is neither legally tenable nor is it practically workable. 19. In the opinion of this court, in the light of the clear directions issued by the Rajasthan High Court in the judgment and order referred to hereinabove, which the respondent authorities are bound to comply with, upon the petitioners making applications for refund along with the requisite documents, the respondents were duty bound to process such claim within a period of twelve weeks from the date of such application. The stand adopted by the respondents that the refund can be made to only to Reliance Industries Limited flies in the face of the order passed by the Rajasthan High Court as well as the above-referred decisions on which reliance has been placed by the learned advocate for the petitioners and is nothing but a purely hyper technical stand adopted by them. Once Reliance Industries Limited has, in clear terms, written to the authorities that various buyers who have purchased HSD in the course of inter-state trade for use in mining activities will be approaching their office for refund of the differential tax amount and has enclosed therewith Cust....