TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (8) TMI 1200
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....rit in the nature of mandamus or any other writ, orders or directions to the respondent authorities to immediately sanction the refund of IGST paid in regard to the goods exported i.e. 'Zero Rated Supplies' made vide shipping bills mentioned hereinabove; (B) YOUR LORDSHIPS may be pleased to direct the respondent authorities to pay interest @ 9% to the petitioner herein on the amount of refund from the date of shipping bill till the date on which the amount of refund is paid to the petitioner herein, as the same is arbitrarily and illegally withheld by the respondent authorities;" 5. Brief facts of the case are that the petitioner exported certain goods during the period between April, 2018 to September, 2018 and filed three shipping bills and paid IGST, details of which are as under: Sr. No. SB Number SB Date Port Code Return month IGST Paid (Rs) 1 4537791 28/04/2018 INPAV1 Jun-2018 4,26,614 2 7188551 28/08/2018 INPAV1 Sep-2018 4,08,175 3 7429875 07/09/2018 INPAV1 Sep-2018 1,13,760 Total Pending IGST Refund 9,48,549 6. It is the case of the petitioner that while filing the return in....
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....port details are filled in and therefore, the same data was transmitted to the customs portal as Rs. Zero and details of IGST paid on GST portal did not match with customs data and thus refund scroll was processed with amount Rs. Zero. 12. In support of his submissions, learned advocate Mr. Gupta referred to and relied upon the following averments made in the affidavit in reply: "12) In the present case, as mentioned hereinabove, the petitioner while filing GSTR-1 entered the IGST amount as Rs. Zero under table 68 of GSTR-1, wherein export details are filled in. Therefore, the petitioner was required to amend its GST Return so that the data on GST portal could have been corrected and after such amendment the data would be transmitted on its own from GST portal to customs portal and the scroll could have been generated with the correct amount of IGST paid. Further it is pertinent to mention that EDI system at customs allows amendment in details of shipping bill only. In this case amendment was needed in GSTR return. Therefore, in EDI system, the IGST amount is showing Zero and EDI system is not allowing amendment of IGST paid amount. 13) In respect to contents o....
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....er submitted that the facts in case of Amit Cotton Industries(supra) referred to and relied upon on behalf of the petitioner are different and therefore, the said decision would not be applicable in facts of the case of the petitioner as the petitioner has committed an error in filing GST return and without rectifying such return, the respondents are unable to process the refund claim of the petitioner. 14. Having heard the learned advocates for the respective parties and considering the facts of the case, it is not in dispute that the petitioner committed an error in filing GST return, but at the same time, it is also not in dispute that the petitioner exported the goods along with payment of IGST of Rs. 9,48,549/- and therefore, the petitioner is entitled to refund as per provisions of Rule 96 of the GST Rules. 15. This Court in case of Amit Cotton Industries (supra) has held that the respondent customs department is entitled to withheld the refund of IGST as per the provisions of Rule 96(4) only and has observed as under: "25. Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017, provides that any person claiming refund of any tax and interest, if any, paid on such tax or any other a....
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....n application for refund of the integrated tax paid on the goods exported out of India and the claim for refund can be withheld only in the following contingencies (a) a request has been received from the jurisdictional Commissioner of central tax, State tax or Union territory tax to withhold the payment of refund due to the person claiming refund in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (10) or sub-section (11) of Section 54; or (b) the proper officer of Customs determines that the goods were exported in violation of the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. 31. Mr. Trivedi invited our attention to two decisions of the Supreme Court as regards the binding nature of the circulars and instructions issued by the Central Government. 32. In the case of Commissioner of CCE v. Ratan Melting & Wire Industries 2008 taxmann.com 1649 (S.C.), the Supreme Court observed as under: "4. Learned counsel for the Union of India submitted that the law declared by this Court is supreme law of the land under Article 141 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short the 'Constitution'). The Circulars cannot be given primacy over the decisions. ....
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....rt. That would be against very concept of majesty of law declared by this Court and the binding effect in terms of Article 141 of the Constitution." 33. In the case of J.K. Lakshmi Cement Ltd. v. Commercial Tax Officer 2018 (14) GSTL 497 (S.C.), the Supreme Court observed as under:- "25. The understanding by the assessee and the Revenue, in the obtaining factual matrix, has its own limitation. It is because the principle of rex judicata would have no application in spite of the understanding by the assessee and the Revenue, for the circular dated 15.04.1994, is not to the specific effect as suggested and, further notification dated 07.03.1994 was valid between 1st April, 1994 up to 31st March 1997 (upto 31st March, 1997 vide notification dated 12.03.1997) and not thereafter The Commercial Tax Department, by a circular, could have extended the benefit under a notification and therefore, principle of estoppel would apply, though there are authorities which opine that a circular could not have altered and restricted the notification to the determent of the assessee. Circulars issued under sax enactments can tone down the rigour of law, for an authority which wields p....
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....issible aid to its construction. The doctrine is based upon the precept that the words used in a statutory provision must be understood in the same way in which they are usually understood in ordinary common parlance by the people in the area and business. (See GP Singh's Principles of Statutory Interpretation, 13th Edition-2012 at page 344). It has been held in Rohitash Kumar and others. Om Prakash Sharma and others (2013)11 SCC 451 that the said doctrine has to be applied with caution and the Rule must give way when the language of the statute is plain and unambiguous. On a careful scrutiny of the language employed in paragraph 3 of the notification dated 21.01.2000, it is difficult to hold that the said notification is ambiguous or susceptible to two views of interpretations. The language being plain and clear, it does not admit of two different interpretations 29. In this regard, we may state that the circular dated 15.04.1994 was ambiguous and, therefore, as long as it was in operation and applicable possibly doctrine of contemporanea exposition could be taken aid of for its applicability. It is absolutely clear that the benefit and advantage was given under the c....