Post-closure sale of capital goods under VAT law remained outside tax, as plant and machinery were not treated as taxable goods.

The amended definition of business under the U.P. VAT Act extends to sales of goods acquired during the period of business even if the sale occurs after closure, but that extension does not reach capital goods. The decisive distinction was whether the assets sold were goods under Section 2(m) or capital goods under Section 2(f). The Tribunal's finding that the plant, machinery and allied assets were capital goods was not shown to be perverse, and revisional interference was therefore unwarranted. On that footing, the post-closure sale of the plant and machinery was outside the charging provision and not taxable under Section 2(e)(iv).

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Issues: Whether the sale of plant, machinery and other assets after closure of business was exigible to tax under the amended definition of business in Section 2(e)(iv) of the Uttar Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2008, or whether such items were capital goods falling outside the charging reach of that provision.

Analysis: The amended definition of business covers transactions relating to sale of goods acquired during the period in which business was carried out, even if the sale occurs after closure of business. The decisive question was whether the items sold were goods within Section 2(m) or capital goods within Section 2(f). The material on record showed that the Tribunal found the items to be plant and machinery in the nature of capital goods, and that finding was not shown to be perverse. In revisional jurisdiction, interference with such factual findings is unwarranted unless they are patently illegal or perverse. Since the legislature used the term goods and did not extend the amendment to capital goods, plant and machinery sold after closure of business were outside the scope of the levy.

Conclusion: The sale of the disputed plant, machinery and allied assets was not taxable under Section 2(e)(iv), and the finding of non-exigibility to tax was upheld in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the amended definition of business under the U.P. VAT Act extends only to sale of goods acquired during the business period, capital goods such as plant and machinery sold after closure of business do not become taxable merely by reason of that amendment.

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