Telangana High Court Petition: R&B Officials Contest GST Commissionerate’s Account Freeze Order

By: Admin
April 18, 2024
Categories: GST Recent News
4 Min Read

Officials from the Roads and Buildings (R&B) department in Vikarabad district have taken their case to the Telangana High Court, contesting directives issued by the GST Commissionerate. These directives instructed Axis Bank and State Bank of India to freeze the bank accounts of the R&B department and facilitate the deduction of Rs 78.12 lakh by the GST wing.

A division bench led by Justice Sujoy Paul is scheduled to hear the petition on Thursday. The GST Commissionerate of Sangareddy division asserted its claim over the amount from the R&B department, citing service tax for services provided between August 2013 and June 2016.

In 2018, the GST Commissionerate issued notices to the department demanding the clearance of service tax amounting to Rs 26,07,568, along with an equivalent sum in penalties. With the issue unresolved, the GST Commissionerate instructed the banks to freeze the R&B department’s accounts.

The executive engineer of Vikarabad’s R&B wing has contested the imposition of service tax on the services rendered by the department. He has brought to the court’s attention that service tax is exempted for government bodies and local bodies as per the Finance Act. Additionally, the department has presented GST notification 1/2018 to the court, which clearly outlines the exemption of service tax for services procured and supplied by government and local authorities.