The court held that under the Settlement Scheme, pre-deposits should not be deducted from the disputed amount before calculating tax waivers, ensuring taxpayers are not penalized for pre-payment.

JUDGMENT :

1. The present writ application has been filed praying therein for the following reliefs:-

(i) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Certiorari for quashing/setting aside the order contained in Memo No. 576 dated 25.10.2023 [Annexure-12] passed by Respondent No.2- Additional Commissioner of State Tax (Appeal), Jamshedpur Division, Jamshedpur in Appeal Case No. JR/JKSYA-07/2023-24 for the period 2003-04, wherein the Appeal filed by the Petitioner in terms of ‘Jharkhand KaradhanAdhiniyamon Ki Bakaya Rashi Ka Samadhan Act, 2022’ [hereinafter referred to as ‘Settlement Scheme of 2022’ for short], has been dismissed.

(ii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Certiorari, for quashing/setting aside the order of settlement issued under Jharkhand KaradhanAdhiniyamon Ki Bakaya Rashi Ka Samadhan Act, 2022 contained in Form JKSY-V dated 09.05.2023 (Annexure-9) passed by Respondent No. 4 pertaining to the period 2003-04 to the extent the amount of pre-deposit of Rs. 76,00,000/- being the amount of disputed tax paid by Petitioner has not been allowed to be adjusted against the final settlement amount while issuing settlement order, due to which, Petitioner was compelled to deposit excess payment of Rs. 45,60,000/-.

(iii) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/ direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondents to refund an amount of Rs. 45,60,000/- being the excess amount realized by Respondents in terms of Settlement Scheme of 2022 by adopting the mechanism of deducting the amount of pre-deposit made by Petitioner against the disputed tax and, thereafter, conferring the benefit of waiver of tax to the Petitioner in a most illegal and arbitrary manner.

(iv) For issuance of further appropriate writ/order/direction directing the Respondents to make payment of interest @ 18% per annum on the amount of Rs. 45,60,000/- from the date of deposit i.e. 08.05.2023, till the date of refund of the said amount.

(v) For issuance of any other appropriate writ(s)/ order(s)/direction(s), as Your Lordships may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case.

2. The brief facts of the case as evident from the records is that the petitioner is a Joint Venture Company formed by and between Tata Motors Limited and Cummins Inc USA having its date of commercial production as on 01.01.1996, and, is engaged primarily in manufacturing/assembling of high speed diesel engines for automotive applications including diesel engines for industrial, power generation and CNG applications.

3. The present writ petition relates to dispute of financial year 2003-04 under Bihar Finance Act, 1981. For the period in dispute, an assessment order was passed by assessing officer, wherein claim of the petitioner regarding exemption from payment of additional tax and surcharge was rejected and, consequentially, as against admitted liability of Rs. 5,17,39,669/-, total tax liability of Rs. 12,89,71,279/-was determined.

Against the said order, the petitioner preferred a writ petition before this Court being W.P.(T) No. 3749 of 2016 and it is an admitted fact that during stage of adjudication proceedings, an amount of Rs. 76,00,000/- was deposited by the petitioner to the state exchequer as pre-deposit.

4. In the meanwhile, the State of Jharkhand formulated an Amnesty Scheme namely, “Jharkhand Karadhan Adhiniyamon Ki Bakaya Rashi Ka Samadhan Act, 2022” [hereinafter referred to as ‘Amnesty Scheme’] and even Rules for giving effect to the said scheme was formulated namely, ‘Jharkhand Karadhan Adhiniyamon Ki Bakaya Rashi Ka Samadhan Rules, 2023’ [hereinafter referred to as ‘Rules of 2023’].

5. The petitioner being desirous of availing benefit under the Scheme filed online application in prescribed format in terms of Rule- 3(1) of Rules of 2023 but while filing online application form suo-motu computation of the benefit under Amnesty Scheme was determined in the following manner:-