ORAL JUDGMENT

(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH KUMAR)

Date : 28-02-2024 Heard the parties.

2. The petitioner a registered Private Limited Company was engaged by the Bihar State Education Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (hereinafter referred to as ‘the BSEIDC’) under agreement dated 29.06.2012 for supply, installation and maintenance of IT infrastructure in the Schools across Rural and Urban areas of the State. The petitioner has filed the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking a direction upon the respondents, especially respondent nos. 3 and 4 for reimbursement/payment of GST, Service Tax and Cess charged on bills raised by the petitioner to the respondents in implementation of ICT @ School Project in 336 Government Schools in Bihar (Zone-2 and Zone-4) on the ground that the same was covered under negative list of Section 66D(1) of the Finance Act, 1994 and hence was not taxable as Service Tax. The petitioner further sought a direction to the respondent nos. 3 and 4 to refund an amount of Rs.95,08,521/- paid as additional liability in form of the Service Tax, GST and other Cess charges along with interest.

3. Learned counsel for