The dominant issue was whether Central Sales Tax dues...

The dominant issue was whether Central Sales Tax dues constituted a secured debt by creation of a statutory first charge on the corporate debtor's assets under Section 9(2) of the CST Act read with the State VAT first-charge provision. Section 9(2) was held to be a machinery provision enabling State authorities to assess, collect, and recover CST dues using State sales tax procedures and powers, but it does not confer substantive rights or create any statutory charge. Since the CST Act lacks an express first-charge provision akin to Section 48 of the State VAT law, no security interest could be implied for CST dues. Accordingly, CST dues were not treated as secured, and the challenge failed - NCLAT

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