ORDER :

1. Heard on admission.

2. The challenge in this writ petition is to the levy of tax which was claimed under Form SVLDRS-1 i.e. the claim under the Scheme of Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme 2019. The claim of the petitioner is that they have filed the service tax return in Form ST-3 for the period from April 2014 to September 2014 on 11.08.2015 and had duly paid the admissible service tax dues, but it was filed late. The petitioner did not pay any interest or penalty as applicable for the aforesaid period, as a result of which, the petitioner had applied under the SVLDRS Scheme to get waiver from interest and penalty as was promised under the Scheme of 2019. It is contended that the respondent No. 4, without considering the provision of Scheme of 2019 and without giving any opportunity of hearing to the petitioner passed the order on 16.03.2020 (Annexure P/1) in a mechanical manner by which the Form SVLDRS-1 submitted by the petitioner was summarily rejected.

3. The case of the petitioner is that the Form under the SVLDRS Scheme was filed on 28.12.2019 and the order under challenge by Annexure P/1 castes a duty upon the petitioner to pay the penalty and interest for late payment of tax. It is stated that the said order was passed without giving any opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.

4. The petitioner is an assessee under the Finance Act 1994 for payment of service tax. It is not in dispute that the petitioner had to pay the service tax and the return was filed by them with delay for the different assessment years. The Government of India introduced the scheme named and styled as Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019 [hereinafter referred as 'SVLDRS Scheme'] wherein it was contemplated that the amount declared means the amount declared by the declarant under Section 125 of the SVLDRS Scheme and the amount estimated was described as the amount estimated by the designated committee under Section 127 of the SVLDRS Scheme. The scheme which was introduced under Section 125 of the SVLDRS Scheme prescribes the eligible persons to make declaration under the scheme except certain categories. The scheme was predominantly was in nature of benevolent legislation and was aimed to put an end to existing or previous disputes.

5. For the sake of brevity, Section 125 of the SVLDRS Scheme is reproduced hereinbelow which purports the eligible persons except certain categories.

“125.(1) All persons shall be eligible to make a declaration under this Scheme except the following, namely:-

(a) who have filed an appeal before the appellate forum and such appeal has been heard finally on or before the 30th day of June, 2019;

(b) who have been convicted for any offence punishable under any provision of the indirect tax enactment for the matter for which he intends to file a declaration;

(c) who have been issued a show cause notice, under indirect tax enactment and the final hearing has taken place on or before the 30th day of June, 2019;

(d) who have been issued a show cause notice, under indirect tax enactment for an erroneous refund or refund;

(e) who have been subjected to an enquiry or investigation or audit and the amount of duty involved in the said enquiry or investigation or audit has not been quantified on or before the 30th day of June, 2019;

(f) a person making a voluntary disclosure-

(i) after being subjected to any enquiry or investigation or audit; or

(ii) having filed a return under the indirect tax enactment, wherein he has indicated an amount of duty as payable, but has not paid it;

(g) who have filed an application in the Settlement Commission for settlement of a case;

(h) persons seeking to make declarations with respect to excisable goods set forth in the Fourth Schedule to the Central Excise Act, 1944.

(2) A declaration under sub-section (1) shall be made in such electronic form as may be prescrib