TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (7) TMI 64
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....ning an order dated 25.04.2024, passed by the learned Single Judge of this Court in W.P.No.2911/2024 (T-RES) clubbed with W.P.No.3196/2024 (T-RES). The present appeal arises from W.P.No.3196/2024. Respondent No.1 [writ petitioner] had filed the said writ petition, inter alia, praying as under: "i. Direct Respondent No. 2 to make payment of Rs. 1,80,73,798/- (Rupees One Crore, Eighty lakhs, Seventy-three thousand, seven hundred and ninety-eight only) along with interest at the rate of 18% per annum, and penalty at the rate of 10% per annum, towards the GST dues of The Petitioner for FY 2018-19, directly to Respondent No. 5; or In the alternative, direct Respondent No. 2 to make payment of a sum of RS. 1,80,73,798 (Rupees Once crore, Eighty lakhs, Seventy-three thousand, Seven hundred and Ninety-Eight only) along with interest at the rate of 18% per annum, and penalty at the rate of 10% per annum, to the Petitioner; ii. Direct Respondent No. 2 to make payment of a sum of Rs. 1,28,02,166 (Rupees One Crore, Twenty-eight lakhs, two thousand, one hundred and sixty-six only) Rs. 1,15,43,196/- for FY 2019-20 and Rs. 12,58,970/- for FY 2020-21), along with interes....
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.... 4% of the taxable turnover. The writ petitioner claimed that it understood that the project works would be exempt from duties and taxes. 5. Clause 39 of Section 5 (Conditions of Contract) provided that the rates quoted by the writ petitioner were deemed to be inclusive of sales tax and all other taxes payable by the contractor. 6. The Board accepted the bid submitted by the Joint Venture (joint venture of three entities, including the writ petitioner) and issued a letter of acceptance dated 17.02.2017. Thereafter, the Board executed a formal agreement dated 08.03.2017 [the Agreement] whereby the Joint Venture was awarded the contract for execution of the works at a contract price of Rs. 40,17,61,572.70/-. The Board issued the notice to proceed with the work on 08.03.2017. 7. The writ petitioner claimed that it had requested the Board to issue an Excise Duty Exemption certificate, but before the said certificate could be issued, the Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, was enacted. Consequently, the tax exemptions previously granted were no longer applicable. The writ petitioner claimed that the constituents of the Joint Venture executed a Memorandum of Understanding dated 30....
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.... 14. In view of the aforesaid demand, the writ petitioner once again sent a letter dated 04.01.2024 to the Board calling upon it to make a payment of Rs. 2,42,68,899.72/- along with interest and penalty in order to enable it to discharge its GST liability. The Board did not pay the amount as demanded. In the aforesaid backdrop, the writ petitioner filed a writ petition (W.P.No.3196/2024). 15. The writ petition was allowed by the impugned order. The operative part of the impugned order reads as under: "(i) Petitions are hereby allowed and disposed of in terms of the order passed in Sri Chandrashekaraiah and others Vs. The State of Karnataka and others - WP No.9721/2019 and connected matters dated 11.04.2023. (ii) Respondent Nos.1 and 2 are hereby directed to pay the GST dues of the petitioner, including interest at the rate of 18% and penalty at the rate of 10%, levied as per the demand order dated 21.12.2023 for the FY 2017-18, FY 2018-19, FY 2019-20 and FY 2020-21 as and where applicable to respondent Nos.3 to 5 - State after due verification and in accordance with law. (iii) Liberty is reserved in favour of the petitioner to submit fresh / new repr....
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....ed employer; so also, in case payments for works completed pre-GST are made post GST, the concerned employer has to pay or reimburse, as the case may be, the differential tax amount, to the Petitioners. (iii) Petitioners are directed to submit comprehensive representations to the respective employers/Respondents within a period of 4 weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, irrespective of whether they have completed the works pre-GST or post-GST or payments were received or yet to be received post-GST. (iv) If such representations are submitted, the respective employers/Respondents are directed to consider and dispose of the same in the light of the aforesaid directions / guidelines as expeditiously as possible and at any rate within a period of 8 weeks from the date of submission of the representations. (v) In view of the interim orders passed by this Court in the present petitions, such of the petitioners who had not filed their GST returns during the period after 01.07.2017 are permitted to file their returns / amended returns, pursuant to the calculation of the differential tax as per procedure above under GST regime, without insisting ....