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2014 (6) TMI 623 - ALLAHABAD HIGH COURTDenial of refund claim - Unjust enrichment - Payment of TDS - stand of the petitioner was accepted in the assessment proceedings and the petitioner was not found to be exigible to sales tax (now trade tax) for the job works done by him - assessing authority in the assessment order directed the office to verify the T.D.S. certificate and, if the same was found to be correct, the amount deducted was directed to be paid to the petitioner - Held that:- Contractee was duty bound to deduct the tax for the job works done by the petitioner under Section 8-D of the Act. The contractee issued T.D.S. certificate in favour of the petitioner. The said certificate was evidence that the payment of tax was deducted at source on the bills presented by the petitioner and credit was required to be given at the time when an assessment order was made. The Court finds that in the instant case, the petitioner presented the T.D.S. certificate before the Assessing Officer, who accepted the books of account as well as the T.D.S. certificate and found that the petitioner was not exigible to sales tax for the job work carried out by him and consequently, was eligible for refund of the tax that was deducted at source. The Assessing Officer, accordingly, directed the office to verify the T.D.S. certificate and if the same was found to be correct the deducted amount was to be paid to the petitioner. The respondents, as a counter blast, issued a notice dated 06.02.2006 alleging that the petitioner was not entitled for any refund of the T.D.S. amount as prima facie it was found to be a case of unjust enrichment. - the stand of the respondents is the same, namely, that it was a case of unjust enrichment and such tax collected by the petitioner cannot be refunded. The verification that was required to be done by the Assessing Officer was whether the deductee had deposited the money in the Government Treasury and if the amount was deposited, the refund was to be given by the petitioner. This was the only limited area of verification that was required to be done as per Rule 90 of the U.P. Trade Tax Rules, 1948. Consequently, the exercise done by the respondents could not have been gone and was without jurisdiction. The impugned orders cannot be sustained and is quashed. A writ of mandamus is issued directing the respondents to refund the amount along with interest as per the rate specified under Section 29(2) of the Act. The Assessing Officer will verify as to whether the amount shown in the T.D.S. certificate has been deposited in the Government's account by the deductee. Upon such verification the respondents will refund the amount along with interest - Decided in favour of assessee.
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