High Court directed Department to disclose reasons for which electronic credit ledger was blocked

Case Details: Vijay Jaiswal v. Assistant Commissioner - [2022] 145 taxmann.com 68 (Calcutta)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • T. S. Sivagnanam & Supratim Bhattacharya, JJ.
  • Ms Rita Mukherjee & Abhijat Das for the Appellant.
  • Rananjay Chatterjee, Tapan Bhanja , Aveek Biswas, Anirban Ray, T.M. Siddique, Debasish Ghosh, D. Sahu, Ms Rajashree Venket Kundalia & Ms Ekta Sinha for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The department blocked electronic credit ledger (ECL) of appellant without assigning reasons for such blocking. The appellant filed writ petition but the prayer for interim relief was not granted by the learned Single Bench. Therefore, it filed intra-court appeal and requested unblocking of ECL and restoration of input tax credit.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that ECL was blocked by the department without assigning reasons and the appellant would not be able to file objections as reason for blocking was not disclosed. However, the department could not be directed to unblock credit at this stage but the concerned authority can be directed to intimate reasons for which electronic credit ledger was blocked as this would meet the ends of justice and simultaneously protect the interests of revenue as well. Therefore, the Court directed the department to disclose reasons for which ECL was blocked. The Court also directed the appellant to file objection on receipt of such information and department would pass order on merits after granting opportunity of personal hearing.