Sh. Apoorve Talera Vs Litecon Industries Pvt. Ltd. (NAA)
It is established that the Respondent has acted in contravention of the provisions of Section 171 of the CGST Act, 2017 and has not passed on the benefit of reduction in the rate of tax to his recipients by commensurate reduction in the prices. Accordingly, the profiteered amount is determined as Rs. 55,60,340/- as per the provisions of Rule 133 (1) of the CGST Rules, 2017. The Respondent is therefore directed to reduce the prices of his products as per the provisions of Rule 133 (3) (a) of the CGST Rules, 2017, keeping in view the reduction in the rate of tax so that the benefit is passed on to the recipients. Since, the Applicant No. 1 has stated vide his letter dated 27.04.2019 attached by the DGAP as Annexure-7 with his Report dated 24.09.2019 that he has received the disputed amount therefore, an amount of Rs. 299/- computed as the profiteered amount in respect of the above Applicant shall not be paid to him and shall be deposited in the Consumer Welfare Funds (CWFs) as this amount cannot be retained by the Respondent. Accordingly, the Respondent is directed to deposit the profiteered amount of Rs. 55,60,340/- along with the interest to be calculated © 18% from the date when the above amount was collected by him from the recipients till the above amount is deposited in terms of the Rule 133 (3) (b) of the CGST Rules, 2017. Since, rest of the recipients in this case are not identifiable, the Respondent is directed to deposit the amount of profiteering of Rs. 55,60,3401- along with interest in the CWFs of the Central and the concerned State Governments as per the provisions of Rule 133 (3) (c) of the CGST Rules, 2017 in the ratio of 50:50 along with interest © 18% till the same is deposited.
It is also evident from the above narration of the facts that the Respondent has denied the benefit of rate reduction of GST to his recipients in contravention of the provisions of Section 171 (1) of the CGST Act, 2017 and has thus resorted to profiteering. Hence, he has committed an offence under Section 171 (3A) of the CGST Act, 2017 and therefore, he is apparently liable for imposition of penalty under the provisions of the above Accordingly, a Show Cause Notice be issued to him directing him to explain why the penalty prescribed under Section 171 (3A) of the above Act read with Rule 133 (3) (d) of the CGST Rules, 2017 should not be imposed on him.
FULL TEXT OF ORDER OF NATIONAL ANTI-PROFITEERING APPELLATE AUTHORITY
1. The present Report dated 24.09.2019 has been received from the Applicant No. 2 i.e. the Director General of Anti-Profiteering (DGAP) after detailed investigation under Rule 129 (6) of the Central Goods & Service Tax (CGST) Rules, 2017. The brief facts of the case are that the Gujarat State Screening Committee on Anti-profiteering, vide its letter dated 22.02.2019 had forwarded an application dated 01.2019 filed by the Applicant No. 1 to the Standing Committee on Anti-profiteering, under Rule 128 (2) of the CGST Rules, 2017, alleging profiteering by the Respondent in respect of “Fly Ash Blocks” supplied by the Respondent. The Applicant had also enclosed two invoices of “Fly Ash Blocks” supplied by the Respondent along with his application viz. Invoice No. 4204 dated 18.12.2018 and Invoice No. 4481 dated 02.01.2019.
2. The Applicant No. 1 had also alleged that the Respondent did not pass on the benefit of reduction in the GST rate from 12% to 5% w.e.f, 01.2019 notified vide Notification No. 24/2018- Central Tax (Rate) dated 31.12.2018 and instead increased the unit base price. The Applicant No. 1’s invoice details have been furnished by the DGAP in the Table-A given below:-
Table-A
