The high court had found that Vedanta used HSD for purposes other than mining, including resale to transporters and private parties. It noted that the company’s tax registration certificate restricted the use of fuel to the running and maintenance of machinery for mining and processing iron ore for sale.
Vedanta had obtained tax registration under the Goa Value Added Tax Act and the Central Sales Tax Act, which was renewed periodically. However, after the introduction of the comprehensive GST regime in 2017, the company migrated to the new system but continued to pay central sales tax on HSD purchases and retained its VAT registration.
Tax authorities denied Form C to Vedanta, stating that the company had ceased to be a dealer under the Central Sales Tax Act and that its registration had become infructuous. Vedanta was trying to use Form C in order to avoid local value added tax of 19% on diesel purchased from Karnataka by availing a concessional rate of 2%, the tax department argued.
The court held that the registration certificate allowed concessional diesel only for running mining machinery, not for resale or supply to third-party transporters. The company’s shares plunged 5% to trade at Rs 637, the lowest level seen by the stock since February 1 this year.
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Vedanta moves NCLAT, challenges NCLT’s nod for Adani’s bid to acquire JAL
Additionally, Vedanta moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), challenging the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) approval of the Adani Group’s bid to acquire Jaiprakash Associates Ltd for Rs 14,535 crore. In November last year, a Committee of Creditors (CoC) approved Gautam Adani’s resolution plan to acquire Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) through the insolvency process, after Adani Enterprises outbid Vedanta and Dalmia Bharat.Also, the company’s board is set to meet today to consider a third interim dividend for shareholders. The record date for the proposed payout has been fixed as Friday, March 27.
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