By G. G. Goyal | Chartered Accountant
C. B. Thakar | Advocate
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VAT — Quantification of refund as per appeal order — No power to consider merit of case.
Facts:
The petitioner, the manufacturer of ‘guar gum’, exported ‘guar gum’. The petitioner claimed refund of tax paid on purchase of raw material ‘guar’ which was disallowed in assessment but in appeal it was granted. Thereafter, while quantifying refund as per appeal order, the revisional authority disallowed the refund on merit. The Tribunal confirmed the order of revisional authority disallowing refund. The petitioner filed petition before the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the order passed by the Haryana Tax Tribunal.
Held:
The High Court, following its earlier order in case of Raghbar Dass Hukam Chand & Co v. State of Haryana, (2009) 25 VST 574, allowed the petition. The relevant observations of the Court in the said case are as under:
“Therefore, we are of the view that on principle as well as on precedent, it stands established that an officer exercising power of determining the amount of refund cannot exercise the power of review or appeal or revision. Such an officer has to respect the order of assessment and then is required to proceed to determine the amount of refund. The provisions of section 43 read with Rule 36 postulates limits of their power as already noticed and, therefore, the orders passed by the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner are liable to be set aside.”
However, the Court made clear that this will not affect the merits of liability of the petitioner in pending appeal.
