Thales India Private Limited Vs Assistant Commissioner of CGST (Delhi High Court)
The Hon’ble Delhi High Court in the case Thales India Private Limited v. Assistant Commissioner of GST, Delhi [W.P.(C) 5563/2025, dated May 27, 2025] held that the GST Department cannot refuse to process refund on the ground that it does not accept a binding High Court decision, especially when no stay or appeal exists.
Facts:
Thales India Private Limited (“the Petitioner”) filed the present writ petition seeking implementation of a refund of ₹8,99,61,147 pursuant to the judgment dated January 7, 2025, passed by the Delhi High Court in Thales India Pvt. Ltd. v. Addl. Commissioner of CGST [W.P.(C) 16611/2024]. In that case, the Court had held that, in the absence of an invoice for services received from its foreign affiliate (the overseas group entity), the value of such services would be “deemed” to be nil, as per the second proviso to Rule 28 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (“the CGST Rules”).
Following the above decision, the Petitioner filed a refund claim. However, the same was rejected by the Assistant Commissioner of CGST, Delhi and Another (“the Respondents”) in Order-in-Original No. 91/2024-25 dated April 7, 2025 (“Impugned Order”). The Impugned Order stated that the refund could not be allowed because the Department did not accept the judgement of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court in Metal One Corporation India Pvt. Ltd [W.P.(C) 14945/2023], which had been relied on by the High Court in the Petitioner’s earlier case. It was further alleged that there existed an employer-employee relationship between the foreign entity and seconded employees, and hence services of seconded employees amounted to “import of service”.
