New Delhi. In the case of Samsung India vs. West Bengal government, the Supreme Court has said that it will look into the constitutional validity of West Bengal Tax Act 2012 on the entry of goods in amended local areas from West Bengal Finance Act 2017 and will also look into the relevant rules and notifications. Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R. The bench of Mahadevan has issued a notice for a group of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Act seeking a reply from the West Bengal government by 22 April 2025. Various provisions of the Admission Tax Act through the Finance Act of West Bengal were revised with the retrospective impact.
The Supreme Court said that it believes that the issue included in the case should be considered. Giving interim relief to the petitioners, the bench also directed that no punitive steps will be taken against them till the hearing on 22 April. Several companies, including Samsung India, had also applied to the Calcutta High Court challenging the orders of the tax tribunal related to the entry tax. He had demanded a declaration from the Calcutta High Court that the West Bengal government is not entitled to impose tax on entry of goods in local areas due to export of goods. The Calcutta High Court’s Single Judge Bench canceled the Act in 2013 on the basis that the compensation is imposed for specific and identifiable objectives and the Act of Bengal violates Articles 309 and 304 (A) of the Constitution.
The West Bengal government appealed in a large bench against the decision of the single bench judge. Who banned the earlier decision. During the pending appeals and after the 101st Constitution Amendment 2016, the Government of West Bengal implemented the Finance Act, presenting the amendment already made in the Act. In this case, Samsung India argued that under the 101st Constitutional Amendment, the State Legislature is not expected to legalize the amendment made in the Act. The Calcutta High Court again rejected the decision of the single judge bench and upheld the 2017 amendment along with the admissions act. After this Samsung and other companies appealed to the Supreme Court. West Bengal lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi said in the Supreme Court that the issue was largely covered through the decision of the Supreme Court in Telangana State vs Tirumala Construction and the decision of the 9 -judge bench in Jindal Stainless Steel Limited and other vs Haryana State and others.
