Steel Authority of India Limited Vs State of Jharkhand (Jharkhand High Court)
The writ petition was filed before the Jharkhand High Court seeking quashing of an alleged refund rejection order and directions for grant of refund of unutilized Input Tax Credit (ITC) along with statutory interest under the Goods and Services Tax regime.
The petitioner, a government company operating its Bokaro Steel Plant, is engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel and is registered under the GST Act, 2017. For the purpose of manufacturing, it procures coal, which attracts compensation cess under the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017. Under the statutory scheme, unutilized compensation cess cannot be adjusted against CGST, SGST, or IGST but is refundable in cases of export without payment of tax.
Read SC Judgment in this case: SC Dismisses GST Refund Challenge for 676 Day Delay and No Merit
Accordingly, the petitioner filed a refund application on 04.03.2019 in Form GST RFD-01A for ₹2,90,86,294 for the period July 2017 to March 2018 on account of refund of ITC on export of goods and services without payment of tax. Certain clarifications were sought by the jurisdictional Deputy Commissioner of State Tax, which were duly furnished by the petitioner. Thereafter, the petitioner received an email in October 2019 indicating that order details in Form RFD-06 had been submitted. On checking the GST portal, the refund status reflected “refund sanctioned,” with issuance of payment advice in Form RFD-05 pending.
