Wilhelmsen Port Services India Pvt. Ltd. and Anr. Vs State of West Bengal and Ors. — Calcutta HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Wilhelmsen Port Services India Pvt. Ltd. and Anr. Vs State of West Bengal and Ors. — Calcutta HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Unconditional stay of the orders impugned in WPA 406 of 2025 until disposal of the writ petition; exemption of the petitioners from payment of 10% of the tax in dispute as directed by the learned writ court; interim order of the learned writ court modified; expressly not to be treated as a precedent.

Issue for consideration

Whether the Division Bench should interfere with the learned Single Bench's discretion in imposing the condition of payment of 10% of the balance amount of tax in dispute as a precondition for stay of the impugned orders. +1 more

Court's answer

Under normal circumstances, a court hearing an intra-court appeal will not interfere with the discretion exercised by the learned Single Bench.

Ratio / Principle

The appellants committed a mistake by claiming ITC in IGST of Rs.19,12,857/- instead of the actual claim of ITC in CGST and WBGST of Rs.9,56,429.12/- each; consequently there is no revenue loss to the Government and the matter is revenue neutral.

Key takeaways

On the peculiar facts and circumstances, the court grants an order of stay of the orders impugned in the writ petition without any condition, departing from the usual practice of non-interference.ratio¶12
The orders impugned in the writ petition shall remain stayed till the disposal of the writ petition, and the petitioners are exempt from making the payment of 10% of the tax in dispute as ordered by the learned writ court.ratio¶16

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Intra-court appeal (MAT/319/2025) by writ petitioners against an interim direction dated 24.02.2025 in WPA 406 of 2025, whereby the learned Single Bench granted stay of the impugned GST orders conditional on payment of 10% of the balance amount of tax in dispute. The Division Bench noted that the appellants had mistakenly claimed ITC in IGST of Rs.19,12,857/- in place of the actual ITC claim in CGST of Rs.9,56,429.12/- and WBGST of Rs.9,56,429.12/-, so that there was no loss of revenue and the matter was revenue neutral. Holding that the peculiar facts justified departure from the normal practice of not interfering with the Single Bench's discretion, the court stayed the orders impugned in the writ petition till its disposal without any condition, exempted the petitioners from the 10% pre-deposit, and modified the writ court's interim order. The order was expressly declared not to be treatable as a precedent, and the matter was disposed of on 25.03.2025 (Coram: T. S. Sivagnanam, Chief Justice and Chaitali Chatterjee (Das), J.).

25.03.2025 Item No.6 gd/ssd

MAT/319/2025

WILHELMSEN PORT SERVICES INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED AND ANR.

VS STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ORS. IA NO: CAN/1/2025

Mr. Himangshu Kumar Ray. Mr. Arup Dasgupta, Ms. Shiwani Shaw, Mr. Bhaskar Sengupta, Mr. Subhasis Podder, Mr. Animitra Roy, Mr. Piyas Chowdhury, Mr. Amit Saha ..for the Appellants.

Md. T.M. Siddiqui, Mr. N. Chatterjee, Mr. Tanoy Chakraborty, Mr. Saptak Sanyal ..for the State.

This intra court appeal by the writ petitioners is directed against an interim direction dated 24^th February, 2025 in WPA 406 of 2025.

In the said order the learned Single Bench exercised discretion while granting an order of stay by directing the appellants to pay 10% of the balance amount of tax in dispute.

We have elaborately heard the learned counsel for either of the parties.

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Under normal circumstances in an intra court appeal, the court will not interfere with the discretion exercised by the learned Single Bench.

However, in the instant case the peculiar facts and circumstances persuade us to grant an order of stay of the impugned orders in the writ petition without any condition.

This is because the case of the appellant/writ petitioners is that they committed a mistake while claiming ITC in IGST to the tune of Rs.19,12,857/- in the place of actual claim of ITC in CGST of Rs.9,56,429.12/- in WBGST of Rs.9,56,429.12/- and, as a result of the said ITC in IGST of Rs.19,12,857/was reflected in the electronic credit ledger of IGST.

Thus, it is seen that there is no revenue loss

to the Government and it is revenue neutral.

Considering these facts, the court is of the view that the orders impugned in the writ petition shall remain stayed till the disposal of the writ petition and the petitioners are exempt from making the payment of 10% of the tax in dispute as ordered by the learned writ court.

Accordingly, the interim order passed by the learned writ court is modified.

It is made clear that this order has been passed considering the peculiar facts and

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circumstances of the case and cannot be treated as a precedent.

With the above observations, the matter

stands disposed of.

(T. S. SIVAGNANAM) CHIEF JUSTICE

(CHAITALI CHATTERJEE (DAS), J.)