A single judge bench of the Rajasthan High Court Tuesday granted interim stay on punitive action against Oravel Stays Limited, popularly known as OYO, in a case involving alleged inflation of earnings through fake bookings of a resort. The incident led to a GST notice of Rs 2.7 crore being served on the resort operator.
Justice Praveer Bhatnagar granted the stay while hearing a petition filed by the company and sought a reply from other parties in two weeks. In an FIR Jaipur’s Samskara Resort accused OYO of inflating its earnings by showing fake bookings of Rs 22.5 crore, resulting in GST notice to the resort.
The FIR claimed OYO used similar tactics across multiple hotels and resorts in the state, resulting in tax recovery notices them.
Appearing for Oyo, senior advocates said Samskara Resort earlier challenged the GST department’s tax recovery in HC, but the appeal was dismissed.
“The resort operators filed an FIR against OYO on April 9 to evade tax liability. OYO operates solely on commission basis and all booking payments go directly to hotels and resorts. Responsibility to pay tax on booking lies with respective hotel. To escape tax dues, baseless allegations are being levelled against OYO,” he said.
Source #TOI
