BADAR DURREZ AHMED, J.

In this writ petition, inter alia, the following reliefs have been prayed for :

"(i) Issue a writ of mandamus or any other writ, order or direction in the nature thereof directing the respondents to refund the amount of Rs. 41,89,487 due to the petitioner along with interest thereon forthwith;

(ii) Issue a writ of certiorari or any other writ, order or direction quashing the impugned notice dated April 9, 2010 under section 58A for special audit;

(iii) Issue a writ of mandamus or any other writ, order or direction in the nature thereof directing the respondents to release the documents/records seized by way of illegal search."

Mr. Bajpai, the learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, at the outset, stated that in this writ petition he would be limiting his submissions to prayer (i) above and that he seeks liberty to raise the issues concerning prayers (ii) and (iii) by way of a separate proceeding. We grant him that liberty.

The petitioner is engaged in the business of trading in mobile phones and is registered with the Trade and Taxes Department since 2000. As per the provisions of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004 (hereinafter referred to as, "the said Act"), the petitioner has been paying taxes in terms of the said Act. The tax paid by making local purchases is the input tax which is either to be adjusted against the tax liability or allowed to be claimed as a refund if the output tax liability is less than the input tax so paid. In view of the aforesaid nature of transactions, the petitioner, for the year 2008-09 was entitled to refunds in terms of the quarterly returns filed by it under the self - assessment procedure. The entitlement of refunds, as per the petitioner in respect of the three quarters, which are the subject-matter of this writ petition, are as under :

------------------------------------------------- Period Amount of refund ------------------------------------------------- 1.7.2008 to 30.9.2008 Rs. 12,99,718 ------------------------------------------------- 1.10.2008 to 31.12.2008 Rs. 15,54,232 ------------------------------------------------- 1.1.2009 to 31.3.2009 Rs. 13,35,537 -------------------------------------------------

Section 38 of the said Act reads as under :

"38. Refunds. - (1) Subject to the other provisions of this section and the rules, the Commissioner shall refund to a person the amount of tax, penalty and interest, if any, paid by such person in excess of the amount due from him.

(2) Before making any refund, the Commissioner shall first apply such excess towards the recovery of any other amount due under this Act, or under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (74 of 1956).

(3) Subject to sub-section (4) and sub-section (5) of this section, any amount remaining after the application referred to in sub-section (2) of this section shall be at the election of the dealer, either, -

(a) refunded to the person, -

(i) within one month after the date on which the return was furnished or claim for the refund was made, if the tax period for the person claiming refund is one month;

(ii) within two months after the date on which the return was furnished or claim for the refund was made, if the tax period for the person claiming refund is a quarter; or

(b) carried forward to the next tax period as a tax credit in that period.

(4) Where the Commissioner has issued a notice to the person under section 58 of this Act advising him that an audit, investigation or inquiry into his business affairs will be undertaken or sought additional information under section 59 of this Act, the amount shall be carried forward to the next period as a tax credit in that period.

(5) The Commissioner may, as a condition of the payment of a refund, demand security from the person pursuant to the powers conferred in section 25 of this Act within fifteen days from the date on which the return was furnished or claim for the ref