Facts of the Case

M Venkata Rao Infra Projects Pvt Ltd, a works contractor registered under the CGST Act, 2017, sought a direction to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to consider its representation dated 29.12.2022 and refund GST amounting to Rs. 4,60,26,603.24, along with interest, allegedly due to it under the GST Act. However, when the matter came up, the petitioner's counsel filed a memo stating that the petition had been inadvertently filed without noticing that an earlier writ petition on the same subject-matter, WP No. 6657/2022, was already pending.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether the present writ petition, being a duplicate of an already pending petition (WP No. 6657/2022) on the same GST refund claim, could be pursued.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The petitioner's own counsel conceded that this petition had been inadvertently and unnecessarily filed, since an earlier petition covering the same refund claim was already pending.

Respondent's Arguments

  • No opposition was necessary on this point, since the petitioner itself sought to withdraw the duplicate filing.

Court Order / Findings

  • Accepting the petitioner's own submission of inadvertent duplicate filing, the Court dismissed the writ petition as not pressed.
  • No view was expressed on the merits of the underlying claim for refund of Rs. 4,60,26,603.24 in GST, since that claim remains to be pursued in the earlier, still-pending WP No. 6657/2022.

Important Clarification

The substantial GST refund claim of over Rs. 4.6 crore was not decided here at all — it remains pending in the earlier writ petition, WP No. 6657/2022, and this order should not be read as reflecting on its merits in either direction.

Sections Involved

  • Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 — the statute under which the refund of Rs. 4,60,26,603.24 was claimed (specific refund provision not detailed in this order).

Decision – In Favour of

No decision on merits — the duplicate petition was dismissed as not pressed, with the substantive refund claim to be pursued in the earlier pending petition (WP No. 6657/2022).

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Karnataka at Bengaluru
  • Case Number: Writ Petition No. 4026 of 2023 (LB-BMP)
  • Neutral Citation: 2023:KHC:33170
  • Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Suraj Govindaraj
  • Date of Order: 13.09.2023

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