The court reaffirmed that construction services qualify as works contracts under the law, entitling the petitioner to refund despite previous rejections based on misinterpretation of statutory notifications.

ORDER :

S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR, J.

In this petition, petitioner seeks for the following reliefs:-

“a) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ or certiorari quashing the order passed by the Respondent No.1 in Form GST-APL-04 dated 14.08.2023 under section 107(11) of the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 herein marked as Annexure-A.

b) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ or certiorari quashing the refund rejection order passed by the Respondent No.2 rejecting the refund claim of the petitioner in Form GST-RFD-06 for the tax period September 2019 dated 30.11.2022 herein marked as Annexure - B1.

c) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ or certiorari quashing the refund rejection order passed by the Respondent No.2 rejecting the refund claim of the petitioner in Form GST-RFD-06 for the tax period December 2019 dated 30.11.2022 herein marked as Annexure - B2.

d) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ or certiorari quashing the refund rejection order passed by the Respondent No.2 rejecting the refund claim of the petitioner in Form GST-RFD-06 for the tax period September 2020 dated 30.11.2022 herein marked as Annexure - B3.

e) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ or certiorari quashing the refund rejection order passed by the Respondent No.2 rejecting the refund claim of the petitioner in Form GST-RFD-06 for the tax period October dated 22.12.2022 herein marked as Annexure - B4.

f) Issue a writ of a writ of mandamus or direction in the nature of writ of mandamus directing the Respondent No.2 to issue the refund claimed by the petitioner for the September 2019, December 2019, September 2020 and October 2020 aggregating to a sum of Rs.3,30,16,780/-, together with interest.

g) And pass such other orders as this Hon'ble Court deems fit and proper in the interest of justice and equity.”

2. Heard learned Senior counsel for the petitioner and learned HCGP for the respondent and perused the material on record.

3. A perusal of the material on record will indicate that the present petition relates to the assessment year September-2019, December-2019, September-2020 and October-2020 in relation to which the petitioner sought for refund, which was rejected by the respondents by passing the impugned orders and confirmed by the First Appellate Authority. Aggrieved by the impugned refund rejection orders, which were confirmed by the First Appellate Authority, which were related to tax periods September-2019, December-2019, September-2020 and October-2020, the petitioner is before this Court by way of the present petition, by placing reliance upon the orders passed in W.P.No.2490/2023 dated 28.08.2024 and in W.P.No.2817/2025 dated 12.03.2025, passed in favour of the very same petitioner in relation to the different tax periods.

4. Per contra, learned HCGP submits that there is no merit in the petitioner and that the same is liable to be dismissed.

5. The petitioner herein i.e., M/s ITD Ceminida JV approached this Court in W.P.No.2490/2023 in relation to the tax period March-2018, April-2018, May-2018, June-2018, August- 2018, September-2018, October-3028, January-2019 and July- 2019, which was allowed in favour of the petitioner by final order dated 28.08.2024, which reads as under:

In this petition, petitioner seeks for the following reliefs:-

“i) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ or certiorari quashing the order passed by the Respondent No.1 in Form GST-APL-04 dated 15.12.2022 under section 107(11) of the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and Central Goods and Services Tax A