INTERNATIONAL METRO CIVIL CONTRACTORS Vs. R K VERMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The following two precise questions arise for consideration before us :-

(2.) The questions arise in the following factual backdrop :-

(3.) The petitioner is a joint venture constituted to undertake the construction of metro corridor between Central Secretariat to ISBT Kashmere Gate awarded to it by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. The joint venture is registered under the Delhi Sales Tax on Works Contract Act, 1999. It was for the year 2001-02 assessed under Section 16 of the Act aforementioned in terms of an order dated 31st March, 2003. The assessment order held the petitioner entitled to a refund of over Rs.6 crores which had been deducted at source on the mobilisation and other advances made to it. The petitioner made an application seeking refund of the said amount. According to the petitioner, the application remained unattended for sometime and was eventually rejected by the assessing authority in terms of its order dated 14th August, 2003. The petitioner's further case is that the assessing authority started making various queries about the refund ostensibly with a view to correcting an alleged error in the order of assessment. The authority with that objective appears to have initiated re-assessment proceedings on 4th September, 2003. Aggrieved, the petitioner challenged not only the initiation of the re-assessment proceedings but also the rejection of its application for the grant of refund in this Court in Writ Petition No. 869/2004. The relief prayed for in the said petition was in the following words :-