Facts of the Case

JK Lakshmi Cement Limited, through its Senior Vice President, having its unit at Malpurikhurd, Ahiwara, Tahsil Dhamdha, District Durg, Chhattisgarh, filed a writ petition before the High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur against the State of Chhattisgarh (through the Secretary, Department of Commercial Tax-GST), the Joint Commissioner State Tax (Appeal), Durg Division, and the Assistant Commissioner, State Tax, Durg, in connection with a dispute arising under the Chhattisgarh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017/Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The order does not set out the specific relief originally sought, the GSTIN, or the amount in dispute. At the hearing on 07.11.2023, counsel for the petitioner submitted that the relief prayed for in the writ petition had in fact already been granted by the department and sought permission to withdraw the petition on that basis.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether continuation of the writ petition was necessary once the relief originally sought had already been granted by the departmental authorities.
  2. Whether the petitioner should be permitted to withdraw the petition on that ground.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The relief prayed for in the writ petition had already been granted by the Commercial Tax-GST authorities.
  • The petitioner, in view of this development, sought permission to withdraw the writ petition rather than press it further.

Respondent's Arguments

  • Counsel for the State was present at the hearing; no opposition to the withdrawal is recorded in the order.

Court Order/Findings

  • On the petitioner's own submission that the relief sought stood already granted, the Court permitted withdrawal of the writ petition and dismissed it as withdrawn.
  • No adjudication was made on the merits of the underlying GST dispute, the petition being disposed of purely on the ground of withdrawal.

Important Clarification

Where the tax department grants the relief sought by an assessee during the pendency of a writ petition — whether by way of rectification, refund, or disposal of a pending application — courts routinely permit withdrawal of the petition rather than adjudicating it, and such a withdrawal order carries no binding precedential value on the underlying legal question, since the merits were never examined.

Sections Involved

  • Chhattisgarh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 / Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — the substantive GST statute administered by the Department of Commercial Tax-GST, Chhattisgarh, under which the original grievance arose.
  • Article 226, Constitution of India — the writ jurisdiction under which the petition was originally filed and later withdrawn.

Decision – In Favour of

The practical outcome favoured the Assessee, since the relief originally sought was granted by the department itself before the writ could be finally heard. However, the Court made no independent finding on merits; the petition was simply dismissed as withdrawn, and the disposal should be read as an administrative resolution rather than a judicial determination in the Assessee's favour.

Related Case Laws

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

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Chhattisgarh, Bilaspur
  • Case No.: WPC No. 3069 of 2023
  • CNR: Not available
  • Coram: Justice Parth Prateem Sahu
  • Decision Date: 07.11.2023
  • Disposal Nature: Dismissed as withdrawn (relief already granted)

Link to Download the Order

Download the full judgment (PDF)

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