JUDGMENT :

ABHAY AHUJA, J.

1. By this Writ Petition, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the Petitioner is aggrieved by issuance of Form SVLDRS-3 dated 19 February 2020 by the Designated Committee making a demand of Rs. 37,67,015/- on the ground that the tax dues comprise of only duty amount and, therefore, only deposit of any stage is allowed under Section 124 (2) of the Finance Act, 2019 pertaining to the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019 (“SVLDRS”).

2. Petitioner is a public trust registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and is a non profit institution registered under Service Tax Law since 12 August 2003 and is subsequently also registered under GST Law from 1 July 2017 and is engaged in providing various services such as holding entertainment events, renting out auditoriums, sponsorship etc., some of which services were/are liable to service tax/GST and some were exempt and some were partly taxable and partly exempt.

3. Pursuant to Excise Audit (EA 2000), audit of the records of the Petitioner for the financial years 2013-2014 to 2017-2018 (upto June 2017), conducted by the audit Group of the Service Tax Department during the month of November, 2018 and December, 2018, a Show Cause Notice dated 14 February 2019 was issued by the Principal Commissioner, CGST, Audit-I, Mumbai demanding a sum of Rs. 2,93,47,926/- as service tax for alleged wrong availment of CENVAT credit by the Petitioner alongwith applicable interest and penalty under Section 78 of Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994.

4. After the issuance of the Show Cause Notice, Final Audit Report dated 5 July 2018 was issued to Petitioner by the Deputy Commissioner, CGST, Mumbai.

5. It is submitted that before issuance of Show Cause Notice, during the course of pre-Show Cause Notice consultations, Petitioner had already paid the amount of Rs. 1,49,35,618/- electronically. It is submitted that out of this amount, a sum of Rs. 1,09,06,948/- was the amount of tax and a sum of Rs. 40,28,670/- was interest. According to the Petitioner, the said amount of Rs. 40,28,670/- of interest was paid under protest and the balance amount was paid after accepting its liability to pay the service tax for wrong availment of CENVAT credit due to bona-fide error.

6. While the Show Cause Notice was pending adjudication, Petitioner had already requested Respondent No. 4 vide letter dated 26 November 2019 as well as to the Petitioner’s jurisdictional Commissioner viz. Respondent No. 3 vide letter dated 16 December 2019 to transfer the said sum of Rs. 40,28,670/- from Accounting Code 00441481 (i.e. Other Receipts (Interest)), to Accounting Code 00441480 (i.e. Tax Receipts) as the said amount was pending appropriation by the department as the Show Cause Notice was yet not adjudicated.

7. It is also submitted that vide letter dated 16 December 2019, the Respondent No. 4-E-Pay and Accounts Officer (e-PAO) requested Petitioner to take up the matter with the Jurisdictional Commissioner. That by letter dated 2 January 2020, the Respondent No. 3-Assistant Commissioner of GST, Mumbai (South) requested Petitioner to inform the reason for change of accounting code, which was purported by explanation by Petitioner vide letter dated 13 February 2020.

8. While the Show Cause Notice and the request above by the Petitioner were pending, the Government notified the SVLDR Scheme with effect from 1 November 2019 in terms of Chapter V of the Finance Act (No. 2), 2019, to provide an amnesty under legacy taxes, in particular Central Excise Duty and the Service Tax, which were subsumed in GST. Under the scheme tax payers could file online declaration for resolution of past disputes, initially from 1 September 2019 to 31 December 2019, which was later extended to 15 January 2020.

9. The statement of objects and reasons of the said Scheme are set out as under:

“STATEMENT OF