https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=163567 A departmental tax circular is binding on revenue authorities even if it differs from the statute, though it does not bind courts or assessees. On that basis, the Commissioner's circular treating menthol as medicine governed the department for the period it remained operative, and the assessing authority could not adopt a contrary classification. After the later judicial position changed, the classification of menthol as an unclassified item at the higher rate was consistent with the prevailing legal position. The operative principle is that tax authorities must follow their own binding circulars and cannot take an inconsistent stand against taxpayers while the circular remains effective. en-us Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0530 Fri, 04 Apr 2014 16:12:01 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=163567 A departmental tax circular is binding on revenue authorities even if it differs from the statute, though it does not bind courts or assessees. On that basis, the Commissioner's circular treating menthol as medicine governed the department for the period it remained operative, and the assessing authority could not adopt a contrary classification. After the later judicial position changed, the classification of menthol as an unclassified item at the higher rate was consistent with the prevailing legal position. The operative principle is that tax authorities must follow their own binding circulars and cannot take an inconsistent stand against taxpayers while the circular remains effective. Case-Laws VAT and Sales Tax Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=163567