BHAWANI AUTOMOBILES Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Seeking a mandamus to the Commercial Tax Department in the State of Bihar to either rectify the online Form 'C' issued to the petitioner for the second quarter of 2014-15, or in the absence of there being a provision for rectification, to issue a separate Form 'C' for the transaction in question, this writ petition has been filed.

(2.) The facts in nut shell go to show that petitioner purchased three wheelers from M/s Atul Auto Ltd., Rajkot, Gujarat for a total consideration of Rs. 1,66,31,180.83/-. The petitioner on import of such goods is said to have paid entry tax at the applicable rate and the petitioner has disclosed the same in the returns filed by him under the Bihar Value Added Tax Act, 2005, as is evident from the returns available on record (Annexure-1 series). For the purchases made, the goods were taxable at two rates, namely, 14.5% and 15% respectively. Goods to the tune of Rs. 61,26,955/- were taxable at the rate of 14.5% and goods to the tune of Rs. 10504225.53/- at the rate of 15%. It is the case of the petitioner that the Accountant in the petitioner's establishment taking note of the fact that part of the goods are taxable at 14.5% and the remaining at 15% filed a separate application online for generating a Form 'C' initially for the value of Rs. 61,26,955/- for the period in question and the Form 'C' was generated, as is evident from Annexure-2. Thereafter, for the remaining tax payable at 15% for the transaction of Rs. 10504225.53/- when again an online application was submitted, the system of online submission of Form 'C' did not permit the second form to be generated and rejected the request of the petitioner. The petitioner, therefore, sought for cancellation of the Form 'C' granted, or its rectification or issuance of a fresh consolidated Form 'C'. When nothing was done, a representation was submitted by the petitioner and when the representation did not yield any result, the matter has come to this Court at the instance of the petitioner in this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution. As indicated hereinabove, three folded relief, alternate in nature, are made by the petitioner. The first is that the Form 'C' may be rectified, if not possible, a separate Form 'C' for the transaction of more than Rs. 10504225.53/- be granted or if this is also not possible, both the Form 'C' be cancelled and a consolidated new Form 'C' be generated.

(3.) Respondents on being noticed have filed a detailed reply and instead of answering the submission of the petitioner, has come out with a case that once the online system of generating Form 'C' has been put into place, the module has been developed for the said purpose and when the module does not permit any rectification or generation of two Form 'C', it is stated that the same is not permissible. That apart, it is indicated in the counter affidavit that the petitioner has made misleading statement.