Retrospective sales tax exemption refused where millet notification became effective only after the relevant assessment year.

The exemption and reduced-rate notification for millets, including korra rice, operated only from 1 May 1980 under section 9(1) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. Because assessment year 1979-80 ended before that effective date, the notification could not apply retrospectively to that year. Turnover assessed as general goods was therefore not shown to be illegal on the ground of the notification, and the challenge to its non-application for 1979-80 failed.

---

---

Issues: Whether the exemption and reduced-rate notification for millets, including korra rice, applied to the assessment year 1979-80.

Analysis: The notification issued under section 9(1) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 stated that the reduced rate and consequential exemption operated only from 1 May 1980. The assessment year in question was 1979-80, which fell before the effective date of the notification. The exemption therefore could not be applied retrospectively to that assessment year, and the treatment of the turnover as taxable general goods was not shown to be illegal on that ground.

Conclusion: The notification had no application to assessment year 1979-80, and the challenge failed.

---