The Orissa High Court has directed Vedanta to reply to the show cause notice in respect of a sum of ₹8,02,84,232 by which the department claims it to be a wrongly availed input tax credit (ITC).
The bench of Acting Chief Justice Justice Arindam Sinha and Justice M.S. Sahoo has observed that Vedanta petitioner will reply to impugned show-cause notice. In it, Vedanta will be at liberty to take all points, including the point of limitation. The authority says and will pass the order by 5th February, 2025.
In respect of the tax period July, 2017 to March, 2018 there was a discrepancy between his client’s account and the goods and services tax (GST) annual return. It was a discrepancy, of which his client became aware and pointed out to the taxing authorities. The discrepancy was also noticed in the audit directed by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The jurisdictional officer sought for explanation, pursuant to the audit report. His client furnished an explanation to the satisfaction of the officer. It was duly reported. However, the audit case was not closed but kept pending.
The assessee contended that the department invoked the extended period of limitation on bare allegations, to issue show-cause notice dated 5th August, 2024 on the last date of the extended prescribed time.
The court noted that as per the show-cause notice, there is an issue between petitioner-assessee and revenue. Petitioner says it is a discrepancy while revenue says petitioner wrongly availed input tax credit (ITC). Impugned show- cause notice bears record of explanation sought for by the jurisdictional officer, furnished and satisfaction recorded. All the above in respect of a sum of ₹8,02,84,232.
The court disposed of the petition.
Case Details
Case Title: M/s. Vedanta Ltd., Jharsuguda Versus UOI
Case No.: W.P.(C) No.24191 of 2024
Date: 21.01.2025
Counsel For Petitioner: V. Sridharan, Sr. Advocate Mr. Prashanta Kumar Nayak
Counsel For Respondent: Satyanarayan Pattanayak, Advocate
