CWJC No.12505 of 2018 (Patna High Court; decided 12-01-2024; oral judgment per Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran, bench completed by Rajiv Roy, J). A works-contractor petitioner (Sidhi Singh, MD, Maihar Builder Pvt. Ltd.) objected to deduction of IGST from his bills for works executed after the GST regime commenced, relying on Clause 7(iv) of the Conditions of Tender ('Rates to Include All Taxes': change of rate of statutory taxes and levy of any new type of such statutory tax shall be on Railway account) entered into in 2014 and extending past its term into the GST era. The Railways countered through Clause 34 ('Recovery of Sales Tax'), mandating recovery at source from the Gross amount of each bill at applicable rates, further subject to increase or decrease as per extant instructions/Act/Rules. Harmonising the two clauses, the Court found that sales tax on works contracts is carved out of Clause 7(iv) - Clause 34 specifically referring to the sales tax on works contract, being the tax now applicable under the GST regime - and held that the petitioner cannot claim that the Railways, the awarder, cannot deduct tax on works contract as leviable under the IGST Regime from the contractor. The writ petition was rejected (dismissed). No precedent was cited.
