TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (9) TMI 732
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....ndent that the Respondent is agreeing to deposit the money as required under law, however, they should not be prejudiced for the same and that they are not liable to pay interest on it regard being to the fact that the interest of 18 % was made applicable, or in other words, inserted in Clause (c) of Sub Rule 3 of Rule 133 of the CGST Rules by virtue of the Notification No. 31/2019 dated 28.06.2019 and it became effective from 01.04.2020 vide Notification No. 71/2019. It was also submitted by the Learned Counsel that this Provision is prospective in nature and it cannot be made applicable to any alleged profiteering that took place from July 2018 to October 2018, as in the present case. It is also not disputed by both the parties that Provision for penalty is not applicable to this case. 2. The disputed issue, therefore, remains in a very narrow compass, and most of the facts are not disputed. We may succinctly state the facts as follows, which are not disputed in this case. By virtue of Enactment No. 12/2017 of the Parliament dated 12.04.2017, the CGST Act came into force w.e.f 01.07.2017. Various rates of GST were prescribed for various goods and services. As the matter origin....
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.... prices, the authority may order- (a) reduction in prices; (b) return to the recipient, an amount equivalent to the amount not passed on by way of commensurate reduction in prices along with interest at the rate of eighteen percent. from the date of collection of higher amount till the date of the return of such amount or recovery of the amount including interest not returned, as the case may be; (c) the deposit of an amount equivalent to fifty percent. of the amount determined under the above clause [along with interest at the rate of eighteen percent from the date of collection of the higher amount till the date of deposit of such amount] in the fund constituted under Section 57 and the remaining fifty percent. of the amount in the Fund constituted under Section 57 of the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 of the concerned State, where the eligible person does not claim return of the amount or is not identifiable. (d) imposition of penalty as specified under the Act; and (e) cancellation of registration under the Act. Explanation: For the purposes of this sub-rule, the expression, "concerned State" means the State [or Union Terr....
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....al framework which is essential for avoiding legal vacuums, maintain stability, and ensuring consistency in judicial interpretations, especially when amendments are made. 8. Thus, the only issue that needs to be decided, in this case, is:- "Is the Respondent liable to pay an interest @ 18% on profiteered amount?" 9. In order to effectively decide this issue which essentially a question of law involving interpretation of Statute, the Amending Rule (Fourth) brought by the Government of India, in Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) through the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) through Notification No. 31/2019 on 28.06.2019 has to be considered. It aimed at amending various provisions of CGST Rules by exercising powers conferred upon the Government of India under Section 164 of the CGST Act. Sub-rule (1) of the Rule (1) of the said notification provided that rules may be called the Central Goods & Services Tax (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2019. Sub-rule (2) of rule (1) is provided as follows; "(2) save as otherwise provided in these rules, they shall come into force on date of their publication in the official Gazette." 10. The relevant ....
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....st time by the aforesaid proviso coming into the effect from 01.06.2002, or it is only clarificatory in nature because of the reason that the provision of surcharge was made in finance Act in the year 1995 and the surcharge on block assessment as well. We have carefully examined the aforesaid judgment and propose to summarise the reasons resorted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court without quoting the same in the following paragraphs.. 15. The Supreme Court held that a legislation, be it a statutory Act or Statutory Rule or a Statutory Notification, may physically consists of words printed on paper. However, conceptually it is a great deal more than an ordinary prose. There is a special peculiarity in the mode of verbal communication by legislation. A legislation is not just a series of statements, such as one finds in a work of fiction/ non-fiction or even in a judgment of a court of law. A legislation requires a technique and is guided by principles of legislation, whereas reading a legislation and interpreting it is another field which is known as interpretation of statute. One of the guiding principal is that the legislation has to be interpreted to mean that it does not have a ret....
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.... G.S.R.457(E).- it is seen that the Government of India in exercise of the powers conferred by section 164 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, made the rules therein to "further" amend the Central Goods & Services Tax Rules. We lay emphasis on the word "further". We also take note that grammatically and semantically, the word "further" does not imply the past. It usually means "in addition" or "to advance". Hence, we are unable to agree to the submissions made by the Representatives of the DGAP that this Amending provision is Clarificatory and Curative having retrospective effect. We are also unable to agree with the submissions that it is not an enabling provision requiring prospective operation. 21. As mentioned earlier sub rule (2) of Rule (1) specifically provided that they shall come into force on their date of publication, except as otherwise provided in these rules. A careful comparison of rule 17 with rule 5 of the said amending rules reveals that rule 5 aims at inserting a proviso to rule 46 of CGST Rules. It seeks to amend rule 46 by providing the following proviso namely; "Provided that the government may by notification, on the recommendation of the c....