Legislative provisions imposing conditions on Input Tax Credit eligibility based on supplier compliance are found iniquitous; bona fide purchasers must not be unduly penalized for supplier defaults.

JUDGMENT :

Ashutosh Kumar, CJ.

The petitioner, a Public Limited Company, engaged in the business of production, blending and supply of tea in India and other countries, has questioned the validity of the provisions contained in Section 16(2)(aa) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter to be referred as the “CGST Act”) and Assam Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter to be referred as the “AGST Act”).

2. The provision of Section 16 of the CGST Act, in its entirety, is being extracted herein below for ready reference:-

“16. Eligibility and conditions for taking input tax credit.— (1) Every registered person shall, subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be prescribed and in the manner specified in section 49, be entitled to take credit of input tax charged on any supply of goods or services or both to him which are used or intended to be used in the course or furtherance of his business and the said amount shall be credited to the electronic credit ledger of such person.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, no registered person shall be entitled to the credit of any input tax in respect of any supply of goods or services or both to him unless,––

(a) he is in possession of a tax invoice or debit note issued by a supplier registered under this Act, or such other tax paying documents as may be prescribed;

(aa) the details of the invoice or debit note referred to in clause (a) has been furnished by the supplier in the statement of outward supplies and such details have been communicated to the recipient of such invoice or debit note in the manner specified under section 37.

(b) he has received the goods or services or both.

[Explanation.— For the purposes of this clause, it shall be deemed that the registered person has received the goods or, as the case may be, services–

(i) where the goods are delivered by the supplier to a recipient or any other person on the direction of such registered person, whether acting as an agent or otherwise, before or during movement of goods, either by way of transfer of documents of title to goods or otherwise;

(ii) where the services are provided by the supplier to any person on the direction of and on account of such registered person.]

(ba) the details of input tax credit in respect of the said supply communicated to such registered person under section 38 has not been restricted;

(c) subject to the provisions of section 41, the tax charged in respect of such supply has been actually paid to the Government, either in cash or through utilisation of input tax credit admissible in respect of the said supply; and

(d) he has furnished the return under section 39:

Provided that where the goods against an invoice are received in lots or installments, the registered person shall be entitled to take credit upon receipt of the last lot or installment:

Provided further that where a recipient fails to pay to the supplier of goods or services or both, other than the supplies on which tax is payable on reverse charge basis, the amount towards the value of supply along with tax payable thereon within a period of one hundred and eighty days from the date of issue of invoice by the supplier, an amount equal to the input tax credit availed by the recipient shall be added to his output tax liability, along with interest thereon, in such manner as may be prescribed:

Provided also that the recipient shall be entitled to avail of the credit of input tax on payment made by him of the amount towards the value of supply of goods or services or both along with tax