Genpact India Pvt. Ltd. Vs Principal Commissioner of GST and CX (Punjab and Haryana High Court)
The Punjab and Haryana High Court considered a writ petition seeking issuance of a writ of certiorari to quash Demand-cum-Show Cause Notice No. 47/GST/GGM/2020-21 dated 30.03.2021 issued by the Principal Commissioner of GST & Central Excise, Gurugram under Section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994 read with Section 174 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The impugned notice required the petitioner to explain why the extended period of limitation under the proviso to Section 73(1) of the Finance Act, 1994 should not be invoked for recovery of refund amounting to ₹2,64,92,41,846 and why Service Tax of ₹16,73,74,91,090 should not be demanded and recovered. The accompanying application for taking the rejoinder on record was allowed.
The Court noted that, when notice of motion had been issued on 30.07.2021, reference was made to CWP-6048-2021, Genpact India (P.) Ltd. vs. Union of India and others, in which the petitioner had challenged rejection of refund of unutilized Input Tax Credit used for making zero-rated supplies of services under the GST regime. In that earlier petition, the petitioner had contended that refunds had consistently been granted under the service tax regime from the financial year 2005-06 onwards and, applying the principle of consistency, refunds under the GST regime should also be granted.
