TMI Blog2019 (5) TMI 786X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Respondents : G.P. for Finance Planning, G.P. for Women Child Welfare, G.P. for Commercial Tax, Sri J. Anil Kumar, Standing Counsel And for Commercial Tax ORDER: ( Per V. Ramasubramanian, J) Challenging the rejection of transitional relief in terms of sections 73 and 74 of the Telagnana Goods and Services Act, 2017 (for short the Act ) read with Rule 121 thereto, and a consequential demand made for the alleged excess claim of transitional relief, the Dealer has come up with the above writ petition. 2. Heard Mr. P. Anil Mukharji, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr. J. Anil Kumar, learned Special Standing Counsel for the respondents. 3. The petitioner is engaged in the business of leasing and financing of vehicles and equipments. They were earlier registered under the Telangana Value Added Tax Act and now registered under the Central and State GST Acts. 4. According to the petitioner, they had an input tax credit to the tune of ₹ 1,79,23,784/-, as on the date of bifurcation of the composite State of Andhra Pradesh, namely, 02.06.2014. In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... issued another notice dated 05.10.2018 and the petitioner again filed a reply on 07.11.2018. 10. A personal hearing was conducted on 16.11.2018 and thereafter an order dated 26.11.2018 was passed by the Assistant Commissioner (State Tax) rejecting the transitional relief and demanding payment of an equivalent amount on the ground that it was an excess claim. It is against the said order that the petitioner has come up with the above writ petition. 11. Assailing the impugned order of rejection of transitional relief, it is contended by Mr. Anil Mukharjee, learned counsel for the petitioner (1) that multiple notices by different persons holding the office at different points of time are bad in law, (2) that the impugned order has been passed on the basis of provisions of law which are inapplicable, (3) that in any case the simultaneous invocation of sections 73 and 74 of the Act was wrong (4) that Rule 120 cannot override the Act, (5) that the three conditions laid down in the proviso to Section 140(1) of the Act are not satisfied in this case, (6) that the respondents cannot rely upon the CCT circular dated 12.05.2015, as it has no application to GST ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... der VAT and CST and thereafter claim refund. 15. In the light of the admitted facts reflected even in the impugned order, it is clear that the petitioner is not making an illusory or stale claim, but is making a claim for something that he is entitled, even according to the respondents, though in a different form. 16. To put it in simple terms, it is not the case of the respondents that the petitioner is claiming something that they are not lawfully entitled. All that is stated by the second respondent is that while the petitioner may be entitled either to adjust the available credit against any liabilities under the VAT regime or to claim refund, they are not entitled to seek transitional relief. 17. The provision for transitional relief is to be found in Section 140 of the Telangana GST Act, 2017. It reads as follows: 140. Transitional arrangements for input tax credit :- ( 1) A registered person, other than a person opting to pay tax Transitional under section 10, shall be entitled to take, in his electronic credit ledger, credit of the amount of Value Added Tax [and Entry Tax] carried forward in th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on was entitled in respect of the said capital goods under the existing law. ( 3) A registered person, who was not liable to be registered under the existing law or who was engaged in the sale of exempted goods [or tax free goods] under the existing law but which are liable to tax under this Act [or where the person was entitled to the credit of input tax at the time of sale of goods], shall be entitled to take, in his electronic credit ledger, credit of the value added tax [and entry tax] in respect of inputs held in stock and inputs contained in semi-finished or finished goods held in stock on the appointed day subject to the following conditions namely: ( i) such inputs or goods are used or intended to be used for making taxable supplies under this Act; ( ii) the said registered person is eligible for input tax credit on such inputs under this Act; ( iii) the said registered person is in possession of invoice or other prescribed documents evidencing payment of tax under the existing law in respect of such inputs; and ( iv) such invoices or other prescri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing a fixed amount in lieu of the tax payable under the existing law shall be entitled to take, in his electronic credit ledger, credit of value added tax in respect of inputs held in stock and inputs contained in semi-finished or finished goods held in stock on the appointed day subject to the following conditions, namely: ( i) such inputs or goods are used or intended to be used for making taxable supplies under this Act; ( ii) the said registered person is not paying tax under section 10; ( iii) the said registered person is eligible for input tax credit on such inputs under this Act; ( iv) the said registered person is in possession of invoice or other prescribed documents evidencing payment of tax under the existing law in respect of inputs; and ( v) such invoices or other prescribed documents were issued not earlier than twelve months immediately preceding the appointed day. ( 7) The amount of credit under sub-sections (3), (4) and (6) shall be calculated in such manner as may be prescribed. 18. Obviously, the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by the provisions of Sections 16 to 21 of the TGST Act, 2017 so as to make the case of the petitioner fall under the first contingency contemplated in the first proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 140. There is also no complaint by the respondents that the petitioner failed to furnish all the returns required under the existing law for the period of six months immediately preceding the appointed day. 22. Even while rejecting the claim for transitional relief, the second respondent has not only admitted the availability of excess credit in favour of the petitioner, but has also conceded that he petitioner may either claim refund or adjust their liability against pending assessments under the VAT or CST Acts. But, it appears that no assessment is pending either under the VAT Act or under the CST Act. Therefore, the only way the petitioner can make use of this credit, even according to the second respondent, is to make a claim for refund. But, we do not know what difference it would make for the respondents, whether the petitioner seeks refund or seeks adjustment of their liability under the GST regime. 23. Once it is admitted that credit was availab ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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