Akil Kureshi, J.

The petitions arise in similar background. For convenience, we may record facts from Special Civil Application No.18433/2017.

2. Petitioner no.1 is a company registered under the Companies Act and would here-in-after be referred to as "the petitioner company". Petitioner no.2 is the Director of the company. Petitioner company is engaged in trading of specialized industrial bearings of various types. The petitioner also imports certain goods. Under the old regime, i.e. before introduction of Goods and Service Tax, the excise duty on local goods or the countervailing duty paid on imports was not to be borne by the petitioners. The credit could be utilised for payment of tax. According to the petitioners, the company has to maintain sufficient stock of different kinds of such bearings, many of which items may not be immediately sold. The petitioners would therefore, have longer cycle of such goods remaining with the petitioners after purchasing from the manufacturer before they are sold.

3. Before introduction of Goods and Service Tax regime ("GST" for short), the petitioners' transactions of purchase and sale of goods were covered under the Central Excise Act 1944, Central Excise Tariff Act 1985 and CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 ("the Rules of 2004" for short). Under such statutes, a manufacturer would not bear the burden of excise duty on the product manufactured by him. If the petitioners and other similarly situated first stage dealers were not granted similar benefits in some form or the other, the petitioners' business would become wholly unviable. If the petitioners were loaded with the burden of excise duty, the petitioners' sales to its ultimate consumers or second stage dealers would be commercially non viable. Instead, the purchasers would be made directly from the manufacturer. The law existing prior to introduction of GST therefore, made suitable provisions to ensure that the first stage dealers like the petitioners are not burdened with the excise duty component. We would advert to these provisions in detail at a later stage. Suffice it to record at this stage that as long as the petitioners fulfill the necessary conditions provided in the said Rules of 2004, the petitioners could pass on the credit of the duty paid on the purchases to their purchasers-manufacturers.

4. The Union legislature framed different laws to usher in the GST regime in substitution of the existing Central Excise and Value Added tax provisions and certain other taxing statutes. The Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 ("CGST Act" for short) was brought into effect from 1.7.2017. Section 9 thereof is a charging section providing for levy and collection of tax. Sub-section(1) of section 9 authorises collection of tax called the central goods and service tax on all intra-State supplies of goods or services or both, except on the supply of alcoholic liquor for human consumption at the prescribed rates not exceeding twenty per cent to be paid by the taxable person. Section 16 of CGST Act pertains to eligibility and condition for taking input tax credit. Sub-section(1) of section 16 envisages entitlement of tax credit of input tax charged on any registered person on supply of goods or services or both which would be credited to electronic credit ledger of such person. Chapter XX of the CGST Act contains transitional provisions. Section 139 makes provisions for migration of the existing tax payers to the new regime. Section 140 contains provisions for transitional arrangements for input tax credit. Sub-section(3) of section 140 allows several classes of persons including first stage dealers to take credit of the eligible duties of the finished goods held in stock on the appointed day subject to conditions prescribed therein. Clause (iv) of sub-section(3) of section 140 imposes a condition that such invoices or other prescribed documents were issued not earlier than twelve months immediately preceding the appointed day. It is this