Facts of the Case

The petitioner, M/s. Premco Rail Engineers Ltd., Jajpur, filed a writ petition before the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack against the Commissioner of CT & GST, Odisha and others, arising out of proceedings under the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Like several other petitions listed before the same Bench, this matter was one of a batch of writ petitions raising a common grievance against action taken by the CT & GST authorities, previously considered together with the lead case, W.P.(C) No.6684 of 2023 and connected petitions, styled M/s. Pravat Kumar Choudhury and others v. Additional State Tax Officer, CT & GST, Cuttack and others, in which a common order was passed on 6 November 2023. When the present petition was taken up on 8 November 2023 through hybrid mode, it was disposed of in terms of that common order, without independent adjudication of the company's specific facts. The order does not set out the impugned notice, the assessment year, or the amount in dispute for this particular petitioner; the appearance of Standing Counsel for both the CT & GST Department and CGST, Central Excise and Customs suggests the underlying grievance touched proceedings common to both the state and central GST administrations, consistent with the nature of the lead batch.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether the petitioner-company's grievance against the CT & GST authorities fell within the scope of the common order already passed in the Pravat Kumar Choudhury batch.
  2. Whether the present writ petition could be disposed of by applying the common order without separate reasoning for a corporate assessee.
  3. Whether either side sought independent adjudication distinct from the batch outcome.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • Counsel for the petitioner-company did not press for separate adjudication, the grievance being treated as covered by the common order already passed in the lead batch of petitions.
  • The petitioner was content to have the matter disposed of on the same terms as the common order dated 6 November 2023.

Respondent's Arguments

  • The Standing Counsel for the CT & GST Department and the Senior/Junior Standing Counsel for CGST, Central Excise and Customs did not raise any objection to the petition being disposed of consistent with the common order already passed in the batch matters.

Court Order/Findings

  • The Court noted that the matter was taken up through hybrid mode and that its facts were identical to those already governed by the common order dated 6 November 2023 in W.P.(C) No.6684 of 2023 and the connected batch.
  • The writ petition was disposed of in terms of the common order passed in the Pravat Kumar Choudhury batch, without recording independent reasoning specific to this petitioner-company.

Important Clarification

  • Corporate assessees, no less than individuals, may find their GST writ petitions disposed of by reference to a common batch order where the underlying grievance mirrors that already decided for the lead petitioners.
  • A reader relying on this disposal for precedent value should examine the underlying common order dated 6 November 2023 in W.P.(C) No.6684 of 2023 to understand the actual ratio applied.
  • Companies with GST grievances similar to those already litigated by other Odisha assessees before the same Bench should check whether a common order already covers their case before incurring the cost of separate litigation.

Sections Involved

  • Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — the state statute under which the underlying CT & GST proceedings against the petitioner-company arose.
  • Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — the corresponding central enactment under which parity of the underlying GST action was assessed.
  • Article 226, Constitution of India, 1950 — the writ jurisdiction invoked by the petitioner before the High Court.

Decision – In Favour of

This is a batch-reference disposal recording no independent finding for or against either the Assessee or the Department; it simply extends the common order passed on 6 November 2023 in the Pravat Kumar Choudhury batch to M/s. Premco Rail Engineers Ltd.'s case. Whether the outcome ultimately favours the Assessee or the Department depends entirely on the terms of that common order.

Related Case Laws

No directly on-point case notes are currently published on this site.

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Orissa at Cuttack
  • Case No.: W.P.(C) No.17726 of 2023
  • CNR: Not available
  • Coram: Acting Chief Justice Dr. B.R. Sarangi and Justice Murahari Sri Raman
  • Decision Date: 8 November 2023
  • Disposal Nature: Disposed of in terms of common order (Pravat Kumar Choudhury batch)

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