Entry tax on aviation fuel depends on intended local consumption, not mere delivery within the area.

Entry tax was held inapplicable to aviation turbine fuel delivered directly to aircraft at Dum Dum Airport when the fuel was intended for consumption and use outside the Calcutta Metropolitan Area. The Tribunal treated the taxable event as entry into the local area for local consumption, use or sale, and held that mere delivery or sale within the area was insufficient where the goods were meant to be consumed after departure. It also found the State's exemption order for petroleum products sold and conveyed without local consumption or use to be within delegated power and applicable. The application was held maintainable despite limitation objections and pending alternative remedies.

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Issues: (i) Whether aviation turbine fuel supplied directly to aircraft at Dum Dum Airport was exigible to entry tax under the entry tax law when it was intended for use and consumption outside the Calcutta Metropolitan Area; (ii) whether the State Government's exemption order under the delegated rule-making power was valid and covered such petroleum products; and (iii) whether the application was barred by limitation or non-maintainable in view of the statutory time-limit and pending alternative remedies.

Issue (i): Whether aviation turbine fuel supplied directly to aircraft at Dum Dum Airport was exigible to entry tax under the entry tax law when it was intended for use and consumption outside the Calcutta Metropolitan Area.

Analysis: Entry tax on specified goods depends on entry into the local area for consumption, use or sale therein. The record showed that the fuel was delivered directly into aircraft immediately before departure, that aircraft carried reserve fuel for safety, and that the fuel supplied was meant to be consumed during flight after the aircraft had crossed the area. Sale within the area, by itself, was treated as insufficient where the goods were not intended to be consumed or used within the area.

Conclusion: Entry tax was not leviable on the aviation turbine fuel supplied to the aircrafts for consumption and use outside the Calcutta Metropolitan Area.

Issue (ii): Whether the State Government's exemption order under the delegated rule-making power was valid and covered such petroleum products.

Analysis: The statutory scheme empowered the State Government to exempt specified goods from tax and to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the Act. The exemption order for petroleum products sold and conveyed out of the Calcutta Metropolitan Area without being consumed or used therein was held to be within competence and to provide the mechanism for availing exemption.

Conclusion: The exemption order was valid and applicable to petroleum products, including the fuel in question, when sold and exported or conveyed out of the area without consumption or use therein.

Issue (iii): Whether the application was barred by limitation or non-maintainable in view of the statutory time-limit and pending alternative remedies.

Analysis: The dispute involved recurring assessments and collections, and the Tribunal treated the matter as akin to a writ-type challenge to recurring levy. In those circumstances, the statutory time-limit was not held to defeat the challenge, and the existence of pending appeals did not preclude relief on the facts found.

Conclusion: The application was maintainable and not barred by limitation or pendency of alternative remedies.

Final Conclusion: The majority held that the impugned assessments and consequential recovery actions could not stand, and the assessee was entitled to relief against levy and to refund of tax collected on the fuel supplied for aircraft departures beyond the area.

Ratio Decidendi: Where goods are brought into a local area but are supplied for use or consumption outside that area, entry tax is not attracted merely because the sale or delivery occurs within the area; the taxable event depends on the intended and actual local consumption or use.

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