Case Law Details
Commissioner of Central Excise and service tax Vs Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd (Uttarakhand High Court)
The submission of Mr. Saharia, learned counsel for the appellant is that the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court was not binding on this Court and it merely had persuasive value. He submits that a reading of the Sabka Vishwas Scheme, 2019 would show that the only amount which is liable to be adjusted is the amount deposited towards the Central Excise Duty and not the amount deposited towards the interest or penalty.
On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent places heavy reliance on the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Schlumberger (Supra). He also drawn our attention to a circular issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs dated 12.12.2019, in relation to the Sabka Vishwas Scheme, 2019, which, inter alia, states as follows:
“(ii) Section 124(2) provides for adjustment of any amount paid as pre-deposit at any stage of appellate proceedings or as deposit during enquiry, investigation or audit. However, an amount paid after issuance of show cause notice but before adjudication are not mentioned therein. Further, these amounts gets appropriated/adjusted at the time of adjudication. There may be situations where such deposits may have been made but could not be appropriated due to pendency of adjudication proceedings. With a view to facilitate the taxpayer, as well as to recognise and appropriate these deposits as revenue, it is clarified that such deposits can be deducted/adjusted when issuing the statement indicating the amount payable by the declarant.
(iii) Many a times, the deposits during enquiry, investigation or audit etc are made ‘under protest’. Such deposits need to be adjusted by the designated committee in order to determine the final amount payable by the declarant, once a declaration has been filed by the taxpayer. Section 130(2) provides that in case any pre-deposit or other deposit already exceeds the amount payable under the Scheme, the differential amount will not be refunded. Any person who files a declaration under the Scheme undertakes to comply with all the provisions of the Scheme. Therefore, there is no question of refund of any excess deposit in any case.”
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
