The Supreme Court in the case of Flipkart Pvt Ltd upheld the Delhi High Court ( HC ) Order which allowed the Claim of Refund of Rs 6,62,74,405/- under the Delhi Value Added Tax ( DVAT ) Act, 2004. The Special Leave petition( SLP ) was filed by the Value Added Tax Officer against the final judgment and order passed by the High Court Of Delhi. The petition had been originally preferred seeking the issuance of a direction commanding the respondents to process a refund application dated 24 August 2020 and give effect to a claim for refund of Rs.6,62,74,405/- in terms of Section 38 along with interest in terms of Section 42 of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004.

The claim for refund is principally based on the assertion of the petitioner that its application of 31 March 2015 was liable to be decided within the statutory timeframe as prescribed in Section 38(3)(a)(ii) of the DVAT Act. It had asserted that in the absence of any valid claim in respect of an amount due existing at the time when the said application was made, the respondents were bound to acknowledge the same and ensure that the refund was granted within two months. The HC observed that they clearly acted in flagrant violation of the mandate of Section 38 of the DVAT Act. The writ petitioner is thus entitled to the grant of the writs as prayed for.

The writ petition is accordingly allowed. The impugned order dated 31 May 2022 is hereby quashed. The respondents are consequently directed to refund the amount of Rs. 6,62,74,405/- along with interest from the date it fell due bearing in mind the observations made hereinabove. The refund be effected within a period of three weeks from the date of this decision.  A two-judge bench comprising Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Justice Aravind Kumar refused to interfere with the judgment and order(s) impugned passed by the High Court and dismissed the SLP.