IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MRS JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 20310 of 2008 Between: M/s.Bhagam Constructions Pvt Ltd.,Special Class Contractors, H.No.54-14/1-9/5,Bharathi Nagar Vijayawada- 520008,Krishna District, Represented by its Director, B.Trivikram ..... PETITIONER AND 1 THEGOVERNMENT of Andhra Pradesh,.rep.by its Principal Secretary, Finance(Works & Projects) Department, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad 2 The Engineer-in-Chief (R&B) Roads,Erramanzil Hyderabad. 3 The Superintendent Engineer (R&B)Circle Vijayawada,Krishna District 4 The Superintendent Engineer (R&B) Circle Guntur, Guntur District 5 The Executive Engineer (R&B) Vijayawada,Krishna District 6 The Executive Engineer (R&B) Guntur, Guntur District 7 The Executive Engineer (R&B) Tenali, GunturDistrict 8 The Pay and Accounts Officer (W&P) Vijayawada,Krishna District 9 The Pay and Accounts Officer (W&P) Guntur,Guntur District 10 The Commercial Tax Officer, Auto nagar,Vijayawada Krishna District .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an appropriate writ order or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of mandamus declaring that 1. the Memo N0.602/F8(1)/2006 dated 14.3.2007 issued by the 1st respondent is arbitrary, illegal, invalid contrary to the provisions of the AP Value Added Tax Act, Rules made there under G.O.Ms.Nos.11 dated 29.7.2005 and 141 dated 27.7.2006 and unsustainable 2. The petitioner is entitled for addition of VAT Component of 4% on the entire value of work done in terms of the provisions of the G.O.Ms.No.11 dated 29.7.2005 ,141 dated 27.7.2006 and section 22(3) of the A.P.VAT Act, 3. Declaring the action of the respondent 2 to 9 in adding only 1.4% at the time of payment of each bill i.e. lesser than 4% as arbitrary, illegal, and contrary to the provisions of the AP Value Added Tax and the Government orders in force as well as the terms of the agreement and 4. consequently direct the respondents 2 to 9 to pay the diﬀerence 2.6% amount on the total value of the work relating to the Agreement Nos.23 dated 13.6.2008 ,48 dated 30.7.2008 ,46 to 49 dated 6.8.2008 to the petitioner and 5. to pass such other orders or orders as the Hon`ble Court may deem ﬁt and proper in the circumstances of the case as otherwise the petitioner will be put to irreparable loss and hardship Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.P.GIRISH KUMAR Counsel for the Respondents: GP FOR COMMERCIAL TAX The Division Bench of this Court made the following order: THE HON'BLE MRS JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 20310 of 2008 O R D E R : [ Per the Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari ] The writ petition is ﬁled seeking a writ of mandamus to declare that: (1) the Memo N0.602/F8(1)/2006 dated 14.3.2007 issued by the 1st respondent is arbitrary, illegal, invalid contrary to the provisions of the AP Value Added Tax Act, Rules made there under G.O.Ms.Nos.11 dated 29.7.2005 and 141 dated 27.7.2006 and unsustainable; (2) The petitioner is entitled for addition of VAT Component of 4% on the entire value of work done in terms of the provisions of the G.O.Ms.No.11 dated 29.7.2005 ,141 dated 27.7.2006 and section 22(3) of the A.P.VAT Act; (3) Declaring the action of the respondent 2 to 9 in adding only 1.4% at the time of payment of each bill i.e. lesser than 4% as arbitrary, illegal, and contrary to the provisions of the AP Value Added Tax and the Government orders in force as well as the terms of the agreement; (4) consequently direct the respondents 2 to 9 to pay the diﬀerence 2.6% amount on the total value of the work relating to the Agreement Nos.23 dated 13.6.2008 ,48 dated 30.7.2008 ,46 to 49 dated 6.8.2008 to the petitioner and (5) to pass such other orders or orders as the Hon`ble Court may deem ﬁt and proper in the circumstances of the case. 2. When the matter came up for admission, Sri P.Girish Kumar, the learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that in similar circumstances this Court passed orders dated 04- 8-2008 in WP.No.16823 of 2008 and a copy of the said order is ﬁled at page No.28 of the material papers, which is extracted as hereunder: WRIT PETITION NO.16823 OF 2008 ORDER : (Per Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari ) Heard both sides. At their request, the Writ Petition itself is taken up for disposal at the stage of admission. At the time of hearing, the learned Counsel on either side submitted that the issue raised in this writ petition is squarely covered by the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in WP.No. 484 of 2008, dated 18-1-2008. However, learned Special Government Pleader for Commercial Tax submitted that though the petitioner states that it has paid 4% tax on the entire work done, it has to be ascertained while processing the final bill. Following the ratio laid down in the above referred judgment, the writ petition is, accordingly, allowed with a direction to the respondents not to remit any further amount in respect of deductions already made pursuant to the memo, dated 14-3-2007 of the ﬁrst respondent, while processing the ﬁnal bill, however, subject to the payment of 4% which is stated to have been made by the petitioner. It is needless to mention that as agreed by the counsel on either side, the balance of 2.6% has to be added by the respondents in the bills. 3. Following the ratio laid down by this Court in Writ Petition No. 16823 of 2008, this writ petition is also disposed of and the relief sought for in the present writ petition is granted on the same terms and conditions as laid down in WP.No.16823 of 2008. 4. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of at the stage of admission. No order as to costs. ____________________________ JUSTICE T. MEENA KUMARI ___________________________________ JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN. 18-9-2008. I s L. NB: Furnish CC of the order tomorrow. // BY ORDER // I s L ... REGISTRAR // TRUE COPY // SECTION OFFICER To 1.2CCs to 2.2CD copies Form-NIC-OGS/WP{TRK}