Jaipur: In a sigh of relief for OYO, Rajasthan High Court on April 22, 2025 put an interim stay on punitive action against the online hotel bookings provider in the case of allegedly increasing revenue through fake booking of a resort. The matter came to light when the resort operator was served with a GST notice of Rs 2.7 crore.
While hearing the petition of OYO, Rajasthan HC Justice Praveer Bhatnagar ordered an interim stay and asked for replies from other parties in two weeks. Samskara Resort in Jaipur filed an FIR accusing OYO of inflating its revenue by showing fake bookings worth Rs 22.5 crore, following which the resort was sent a GST notice.
The FIR further claimed that OYO used similar tactics in many hotels and resorts in Rajasthan, due to which the resort operators were served tax recovery notices.
Senior advocates RB Mathur and Lipi Garg, appearing on behalf of OYO, said that Samskara Resort had filed an appeal in the High Court for tax recovery by the GST department, but the plea was dismissed by the court.
Mathur said that the OYO’s business model is based on commission and the payments directly go to hotels and resorts. He categorically stated that the responsibility to pay taxes solely lies on the operators.
The lawyer accused the hotel operator of levelling baseless allegations against OYO. He also accused the operator of filing FIR against OYO on April 9 to evade tax liability.
After hearing the arguments of the lawyers representing OYO, the high curt put an interim stay on any kind of punitive action in the FIR registered against OYO and sought a reply from the other parties within two weeks.
The Rajasthan High Court has put an interim stay on punitive action against OYO in the case of allegedly inflating revenue through fake bookings of Samskara Resort. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
