Facts of the Case

M/s. Suryakanta Jena, Balasore, filed a writ petition before the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack against the Commissioner of CT and GST, Odisha and others, invoking Article 226 of the Constitution in respect of a grievance arising under the Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017/Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. Standing Counsel appeared for the CT & GST Department as well as separate counsel for CGST, Central Excise and Customs, indicating the matter concerned the GST administration in Odisha. The petition, taken up through hybrid mode on 08.11.2023, was disposed of by the Division Bench without recording any independent facts, GSTIN, quantum, or procedural history specific to this petitioner; instead, the Court applied the common order dated 6 November 2023 passed in W.P.(C) No.6684 of 2023 and a batch of connected writ petitions titled M/s. Pravat Kumar Choudhury and Others v. Additional State Tax Officer, CT & GST, Cuttack and Others.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether the petitioner's grievance under the GST law was covered by the common order passed in the Pravat Kumar Choudhury batch of writ petitions.
  2. What relief, if any, followed for the petitioner upon application of that common order to the facts of this case.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • No independent submissions of the petitioner are separately recorded in this order; the petitioner's counsel is on record, and the matter appears to have been treated as materially similar to the lead batch of writ petitions.

Respondent's Arguments

  • Standing Counsel for the CT & GST Department, along with counsel for CGST, Central Excise and Customs, appeared; no independent contest is recorded in this short order, the disposal proceeding on the basis of the common order already passed in the lead matter.

Court Order/Findings

  • The writ petition was disposed of in terms of the common order dated 6 November 2023 passed in W.P.(C) No.6684 of 2023 and Batch of Writ Petitions (M/s. Pravat Kumar Choudhury and Others v. Additional State Tax Officer, CT & GST, Cuttack and Others).
  • No independent reasoning, finding, or operative relief distinct from the lead order is recorded in this order.

Important Clarification

When the Orissa High Court disposes of numerous similarly-placed GST writ petitions by applying a common order passed in a lead matter, the actual ratio and relief must be traced to that lead order (here, the Pravat Kumar Choudhury batch); the short disposal order in a connected matter, by itself, discloses no independent reasoning and should not be read as an independent precedent. Taxpayers tracking such batch matters should always pull up the lead order to understand the actual scope of relief granted, since procedural indices frequently record only the connected order.

Sections Involved

  • Odisha Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 / Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — the substantive GST statute under which the underlying dispute before the CT & GST Department arose.
  • Article 226, Constitution of India — the writ jurisdiction invoked by the petitioner in seeking relief against the State Tax authority.

Decision – In Favour of

The outcome cannot be determined from the text of this order alone, since it merely adopts, without reproducing, the reasoning and relief of a common order passed in a separate lead matter. This is a procedural disposal rather than an independent merits decision; readers seeking the actual holding must refer to the lead judgment in the Pravat Kumar Choudhury batch of writ petitions decided on 6 November 2023.

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. 21666 of 2023
  • CNR: Not available
  • Coram: Acting Chief Justice Dr. B.R. Sarangi and Justice Murahari Sri Raman
  • Decision Date: 08.11.2023
  • Disposal Nature: Disposed of in terms of common order (batch GST matter)

Link to Download the Order

Download the full judgment (PDF)

Disclaimer

This content is shared strictly for general information and knowledge purposes only. Readers should independently verify the information from reliable sources. It is not intended to provide legal, professional, or advisory guidance. The author and the organisation disclaim all liability arising from the use of this content. The material has been prepared with the assistance of AI tools.