Pre-amendment tax exemption for IMFL and rectified spirit: commercial tax and VAT recovery barred for the relevant period.

IMFL and rectified spirit were treated as not liable to commercial tax or VAT for the period before 01.04.2013, because the governing entry in Schedule-I of the M.P. VAT Act had not yet been amended. The Court followed its earlier view on similar excisable goods and applied the principle that, for the pre-amendment period, recovery of commercial tax or VAT on such goods was not permissible. The impugned assessment and connected proceedings were quashed.

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Issues: Whether IMFL and rectified spirit were liable to commercial tax or VAT prior to 01.04.2013 under the M.P. Commercial Tax Act, 1994 and the M.P. VAT Act, 2002.

Analysis: The dispute concerned the taxability of IMFL and rectified spirit for a period prior to the amendment made to Entry No. 47 of Schedule-I of the M.P. VAT Act, 2002 with effect from 01.04.2013. The Court applied the principle already settled in the earlier decision dealing with similar goods, namely that where the goods are excisable articles and the relevant period is before the amendment, recovery of commercial tax or VAT is not permissible on those goods.

Conclusion: IMFL and rectified spirit were held not liable to tax for the period in question, and the impugned assessment and connected proceedings were quashed.

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