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2020 (3) TMI 140 - GUJARAT HIGH COURTGrant of refund of tax collected from the petitioner by the seller and deposited with the respondent authorities - CST Act, 1956 - Refusal to issue C-Form - case of petitioners is that just like no statutory provisions are required for applying the principle of unjust enrichment, correspondingly no provision is required for refund to the person who has borne the tax - HELD THAT:- It is an undisputed position that the petitioners have borne the burden of tax as the CST authorities at Rajasthan had refused to issue C forms after the coming into force of the GST regime. On account of non-issuance of C forms, the petitioners were not in a position to submit C form declarations in respect of the diesel purchased by them for their mining activity, as a result whereof, the petitioners could not purchase diesel at concessional rate of tax from the seller - Reliance Industries Limited, which collected tax at the rate of 20 % from the petitioners and deposited the same with the respondent authorities. The respondent authorities do not dispute that against the C form declarations, the tax collected from the petitioners and deposited by Reliance Industries Limited is required to be refunded. The sole refrain of the respondent authorities is that such refund can be made to the seller – Reliance Industries Limited after its assessment for the period in question is concluded and not to the petitioners who are not registered as dealers in Gujarat. In the present case, in the absence of ‘C’ forms having been issued by the Rajasthan authorities, the respondent authorities have collected excess tax from the seller-Reliance Industries Limited, who in turn has collected the same from the petitioners - once the Rajasthan authorities issue C forms against the sales made by Reliance Industries Limited to the petitioners and the petitioners produce the requisite documents/forms before the respondent authorities, the respondent authorities are required to process such claim within twelve weeks of the same being made in writing by the petitioners. Unjust enrichment - HELD THAT:- In case of the petitioners, it is an admitted position that the HSD has been purchased by them from Reliance Industries Limited in the course of inter-State trade for use in mining activities and they are, therefore, the ultimate consumers thereof and hence, the question of passing on the tax burden to anyone would not arise. Consequently, the question of unjust enrichment would also not arise. The respondents are directed to forthwith process the refund claims of the respective petitioners and grant refund of the tax amount collected from the petitioners and deposited by the seller in accordance with law within a period of twelve weeks of the receipt of a copy of this judgment - Petition allowed - decided in favor of petitioner.
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