Purposive construction of transitional input-tax credit rules: filing period runs from publication of the Rules, not the appointed day.

Transitional input-tax credit under the Punjab VAT regime was construed purposively where the Rules were published after the appointed day. A literal reading that treated the filing period as running from the appointed day would have required compliance before the Rules came into force and would make the statutory condition impossible to perform. The Court therefore held that the prescribed period for furnishing the claim had to be counted from the date of publication of the Rules, so the transitional credit mechanism remained workable and the claim was not time-barred on the Revenue's construction.

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Issues: Whether the period prescribed for filing a claim for input-tax credit on stock held on the appointed day under section 14 of the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 and rule 25(1)(b) of the Punjab Value Added Tax Rules, 2005 was to be reckoned from the appointed day or from the date of publication of the Rules.

Analysis: The claim for input-tax credit was a transitional benefit under a repealed sales tax regime. Section 14 required the prescribed statement to be furnished within forty-five days from the appointed day, while rule 25(1)(b) also contemplated filing within thirty days from the appointed day. The Rules, however, were published after the appointed day. Reading the provision literally would have required compliance before the Rules came into force, making performance of the condition impossible. Such an interpretation would defeat the object of the transition scheme and the legislative intent behind allowing input-tax credit on stock already subjected to tax under the repealed enactment. The correct approach was purposive construction, under which the prescribed period had to be counted from the date of publication of the Rules.

Conclusion: The claim could not be rejected as time-barred on the footing that the period ran from the appointed day; the interpretation adopted by the assessee was accepted, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The decision affirms that transitional input-tax credit conditions under the VAT regime must be construed so as to make the scheme workable and not to require compliance with an impossible procedural condition.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a transitional tax benefit depends on rules published after the appointed day, the prescribed filing period must be construed purposively from the date the rules were made available, so that the statutory scheme does not demand an impossible act.

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