Form C eligibility under CST continued for natural gas purchases used in electricity generation despite the GST regime.

Natural gas continued to be covered by the CST framework after GST, and the concessional Form C mechanism was not withdrawn for inter-State purchases used in electricity generation. The text states that the GST enactments had not displaced CST treatment for natural gas because the levy under the CGST and HGST provisions had not been brought into force by notification, so Form C remained available. It further states that section 7(2) is broad enough to include liability under the Haryana GST law, and that continuing CST registration, together with liability under the State tax law, satisfied the registration basis for obtaining Form C and related refund or adjustment relief where excess tax had been recovered.

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Issues: (i) Whether, after the GST regime came into force, the petitioner remained entitled to Form C declarations for inter-State purchases of natural gas used for generation of electricity. (ii) Whether registration under the Haryana Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the continued operation of the CST framework for natural gas satisfied the requirements of section 7(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.

Issue (i): Whether, after the GST regime came into force, the petitioner remained entitled to Form C declarations for inter-State purchases of natural gas used for generation of electricity.

Analysis: Natural gas continued to fall within the amended definition of goods under the CST Act, and the inter-State sale from Gujarat to Haryana remained a transaction in the course of inter-State trade. The CST provisions governing concessional taxation through Form C were not amended so as to withdraw that benefit for natural gas used in generation of electricity. The GST statutes did not displace the CST regime for natural gas because the levy under the CGST and HGST provisions on natural gas had not been brought into force by notification, and the Haryana repeal provision did not disturb the CST position for this commodity.

Conclusion: The petitioner remained entitled to Form C declarations for natural gas.

Issue (ii): Whether registration under the Haryana Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and the continued operation of the CST framework for natural gas satisfied the requirements of section 7(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.

Analysis: Section 7(2) permits registration by a dealer liable to tax under the sales tax law of the appropriate State, and the expression is broad enough to include the Haryana GST law. The petitioner was liable to tax on its intra-State business under the Haryana GST framework even though it had no CST liability on the relevant sales. Its CST registration had not been cancelled or amended, and the statutory scheme did not confine section 7(2) to the earlier VAT enactment or to resale of the very same goods purchased. The purchaser of goods intended for use in generation of electricity remained within the concessional mechanism under section 8.

Conclusion: The petitioner satisfied section 7(2) and could obtain Form C on that basis.

Final Conclusion: The denial of Form C was unsustainable, and the respondents were bound to issue the declarations and give consequential refund or adjustment relief where excess tax had been recovered.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the CST registration continues subsisting and the dealer remains liable under the appropriate State sales tax law, the expression "sales tax law" in section 7(2) is wide enough to include the post-GST State tax enactment, and the concessional Form C mechanism remains available for inter-State purchases of goods that continue to be governed by the CST Act.

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