OLA Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Vs Union of India (Telangana High Court)
In OLA Fleet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. vs Union of India, the Telangana High Court examined a writ petition challenging a show cause notice dated 23.01.2021 and seeking adjustment of Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) paid by the petitioner towards Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and State Goods and Services Tax (SGST). The petitioner, a registered entity under the Telangana GST law, was engaged in leasing passenger transport vehicles. Due to an inadvertent mapping error in its IT system, transactions within Telangana were treated as inter-state supplies, resulting in payment of IGST instead of CGST and SGST for the period 2018–2019.
During an inspection under Section 65 of the relevant GST law, authorities found that both the supply and place of supply were within Telangana, making the transactions intra-state. It was noted that the petitioner had paid IGST amounting to ₹6,55,70,925 instead of CGST and SGST, leading to a demand of ₹5,98,65,274 through the show cause notice. The petitioner challenged the notice and sought adjustment of the IGST already paid against CGST and SGST liabilities.
The respondents contended that under Section 19(1) of the IGST Act, a taxpayer who has paid IGST on a transaction later held to be intra-state is entitled to a refund, and there is no statutory provision permitting adjustment of IGST against CGST and SGST. They also explained the distribution mechanism of GST collections between the Centre and the States and opposed the petitioner’s request for adjustment as being contrary to statutory provisions.
