Commissioner of Commercial Tax & Ors. Vs Vikaram Cement (Supreme Court of India)
Summary: Supreme Court dismissed the Revenue’s appeals involving a tax component of ₹25,47,448 on the ground that it was below the ₹2 crore monetary threshold prescribed for Supreme Court litigation under CBIC’s Circular No. 207/1/2024-GST dated 26.06.2024. The appeals arose from a Madhya Pradesh High Court Full Bench judgment which had quashed reassessment proceedings under Section 19(1) of the Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958 as time-barred. The State contended that by virtue of Section 174(2)(f), the pending appeal under the old enactment survived and the monetary-limit Circular was inapplicable.
Rejecting this contention, the Supreme Court held that the Circular expressly covers not only filing but also pursuing appeals and that the National Litigation Policy expression “Appeal should not be pursued” encompasses pending appeals. The Court further observed that the monetary limits apply to pending appeals relating to CGST, SGST/UTGST, IGST and Compensation Cess. Since the tax component in the appeals was substantially below the ₹2 crore Supreme Court threshold, the appeals were dismissed. Importantly, the Court expressly refrained from deciding the substantive question of law concerning limitation for reassessment and kept that question open for determination in an appropriate case.
FULL TEXT OF THE SUPREME COURT ORDER
1. Heard learned senior counsel appearing for the appellants and learned counsel appearing for the respondent-Assessee.
