The Odisha Government may move the Supreme Court contesting the Orissa High Court’s recent order keeping in abeyance a State Government’s demand notice of VAT recovery from the Indian Oil Corporation limited (IOCl).
“As the High Court did not specifically order that VAT should not be collected from the ICOl, we may approach higher court over the matter,” BJD spokesperson Pratap Jena told reporters here on Friday.
He alleged that the IOCl had breached the agreement by enhancing the capacity of the Paradip Refinery plant without consulting the State Government leading to losses to the State exchequer.
On the other hand, the BJP slammed the State Government saying that it is against industrialisation. “Why is there an obstacle against IOCl which is working towards the progress of OdishaIJ Why is the Odisha Government creating an issue after the High Court’s order for an amicable solution through discussion,” asked BJP State spokesperson Sajjan Sharma.
Notably, on February 16, 2004, the State Government and the IOCl had signed an MoU for the Paradip Refinery Project in which the former had agreed to defer collection VAT on all outputs from the refinery during the first 11 years of the commencement of production.
However, the State Government in February this year had asked the IOCl to deposit tax of Rs 1,485.98 crore for the sale of finished products from its refinery project, which was commissioned in November 2015.