Exemption on traded footwear required factual findings; absence of findings made the appellate order unsustainable and remand necessary.

Trade tax revisional scrutiny was considered appropriate where the appellate authority and Tribunal failed to examine whether exemption applied to turnover from footwear traded under the registration certificate, notification and related circulars. The Tribunal, as the final fact-finding authority, was expected to determine both the department's objection that only goods manufactured by a qualifying small-scale or gramodyog industry were exempt and the assessee's case that trading in notified commodities was itself covered. Because no clear finding was recorded on manufacture, or on whether the exemption extended to traded footwear irrespective of manufacture, the appellate order was unsustainable and the matter was remitted for a fresh reasoned decision.

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Issues: Whether the trade tax revisional court should interfere where the appellate authority and the Tribunal failed to examine the assessee's entitlement to exemption on turnover from footwear traded under the registration certificate, notification, and related circulars.

Analysis: The Tribunal, being the last fact-finding authority, was required to examine both the department's objection that only goods manufactured by a small-scale or gramodyog industry were exempt and the assessee's plea that trading in the notified commodities was itself exempt under the certificate and notification. The record showed that no specific finding was recorded on whether the footwear sold by the assessee had been manufactured by a qualifying industry, or whether the notification and certificate extended the exemption to trading in such goods irrespective of manufacture. In the absence of such findings, the appellate order could not be sustained in revisional scrutiny.

Conclusion: The Tribunal's order was unsustainable and was quashed, and the matter was remitted to the Tribunal for fresh decision by a reasoned speaking order.

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