IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 20038 of 2022 With R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 19949 of 2022 FOR APPROVAL AND SIGNATURE:

HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRANAV TRIVEDI ==========================================================

Approved for Reporting Yes No √

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ATUL LIMITED & ANR.

Versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

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Appearance:

MR ABHAY Y DESAI(12861) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1 MR D K TRIVEDI(5283) for the Petitioner(s) No. 2 MS HETVI H SANCHETI(5618) for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2,3,4,5,6 ==========================================================

CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRANAV TRIVEDI Date : 24/07/2025

ORAL JUDGMENT

(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRANAV TRIVEDI)

1 Both the writ petitions preferred under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India have common issues, and therefore, are disposed by way of a common order. The facts of Special Civil Application No. 20038 of 2022 are taken as lead matter.

2 Heard Mr.Abhay Desai, learned advocate for the petitioner and Ms.Hetvi Sancheti, learned advocate for the respondent.

2.1 The present writ petition is preferred seeking the following reliefs:

“A. Your Lordships may be pleased to declare that paragraph no. 5 of Circular No. 45/19/2018- GST dated 30.05.2018 as well as paragraph no. 42 of Circular No. 125/44/2019-GST dated 18.11.2019 being contrary to Sec. 11 of the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 is wholly without jurisdiction, manifestly arbitrary and violating Article 14 of the Constitution of India, B. Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other writ, order or direction quashing and setting aside (a) paragraph 5 of Circular No. 45/19/2018-GST dtd. 30/05/2018, (b) paragraph no. 42 of Circular No. 125/44/2019- GST dated 18.11.2019 (c) Show-cause Notice annexed at Annexure D above, (d) Order in Form RFD-06 dtd. 08/04/2021 rejecting refund claim (Annexure E hereinabove) and (e) Order dtd. 19/05/2022 (Annexure F hereinabove) as being wholly without jurisdiction, arbitrary and illegal, C. Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other writ, order or direction quashing and setting aside (a) Show-cause Notice annexed at Annexure D above, (b) Order in Form RFD-06 dtd. 08/04/2021 rejecting refund claim (Annexure E hereinabove) and (c) Order dtd. 19/05/2022 (Annexure F hereinabove) as being wholly contrary to the provisions of the law,”

3 The facts culminating into filing of the present writ petitions are as under:

3.1 The petitioner is a public limited company, engaged in manufacture and sale of various chemical products. The petitoner is indulged in activity of supply of the products to Special Economic Zone Units as well as for exports outside India. The petitioner is registered under the provisions of Central Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the CGST Act’ for short) as well as under the provisions of Integrated Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the IGST Act’ for short).

3.2 It is the case of the petitioner that in order to manufacture the finish product for exports, there is a requirement of power in form of electricity. To satisfy such requirement, petitioner purchased coal from the market and generated its own captive power via captive power plant. Purchase of coal led to levy of CESS on the supply of coal. Vendors supplying coal to the petitioner charged levy and collected CESS from the petitioner.

3.3 It is the case of the petitioner that the levy of CESS resulted into availment of Input Tax Credit on the inward supplies of coal. It is the case of the petitioner that the manufacturing of the chemical products led to zero-rated supply with payment of IGST, but witho