Refund of Inverted Duty on Input Services – Apex Court to hear all matters on 28th April 2021. No more Adjournments will be Available

SC : THE QUARRY OWNERS ASSOCIATION & ORS.

Since a large number of petitions are pending in the High Courts on the same issue, the present batch of cases are posted for final hearing on 28 April 2021. No more adjournments will be available.

Union of India & Anr. Vs. The Quarry Owners Association & Ors. (Union of India)

SC held on the issue of ‘Validity of Refund of Inverted Duty on Input Services’ held that Since a large number of petitions are pending in the various High Courts on the same issue, it is appropriate that we list the present batch of cases at an early date, which we do by posting the cases for final hearing on 28 April 2021. The entire batch of petitions shall be listed at the top of the Board on that date.

FULL TEXT OF THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT/ORDER

1. This batch of petitions arises from the judgments of the High Court of Gujarat and of the High Court of Madras. The Gujarat High Court has held that Explanation (a) to Rule 89(5) of the CGST Rules 2017 is ultra vires, while a contrary view has been taken by the High Court of Madras. Since a large number of petitions are pending in the High Courts on the same issue, it is appropriate that we list the present batch of cases at an early date, which we do by posting the cases for final hearing on 28 April 2021. The entire batch of petitions shall be listed at the top of the Board on that date.

2. In order to facilitate the learned counsel and the Court in appreciating the gamut of the matter, certain house-keeping directions are required, which are issued as follows:

(i) Counter affidavits, if any, shall be filed within a period of two weeks from today and no adjournment shall be granted on the next date of hearing;

(ii) Mr Balbir Singh, learned Additional Solicitor General shall, within a period of ten days, circulate an index of statutory provisions as well as circulars on which the Revenue would seek to place reliance at the final hearing. Within three days of the receipt of the e-mails, all the learned counsel shall indicate to the Additional Solicitor General the additions which they request to be made to the index so that a common compilation can be filed;

(iii) As regards case law and precedent, it has been agreed that Mr Sujit Ghosh, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the first respondent in some of the cases, shall likewise circulate an index of the case law on which he seeks to place reliance. All the learned counsel who wish to make any additions to the case law shall indicate this to Mr Sujit Ghosh within three days of the receipt of the emails;

(iv) In the above manner, two separate common compilations shall be made available to the Court in the soft form, one containing the statutory provisions and circulars and material associated with it and the second consisting of the precedent on the subject; and

(v) Written submissions shall be filed by all the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the contesting parties at least two weeks before the date of hearing.

3. The Registry shall ensure that the PDF format together with consecutive pagination is circulated to all the learned counsel appearing in the matter so as to ensure that the page references which are made available to the Court are also made available to all the learned members of the Bar for facilitating their submissions.

4. In the event that there is any difficulty experienced by the learned counsel in accessing the PDF files, they may contact the Court Masters of this Court, Mr Sanjay Kumar or Mr Chetan Kumar, as the case may be.

5. List the Special Leave Petitions on 28 April 2021 at the top of the Board.