TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2007 (7) TMI 396
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....Karnataka at Bangalore in Sales Tax Revision Petition No. 32 of 2005 filed by the appellant, whereby the High Court partly allowed the petition filed by the appellant. Brief facts giving rise to the filing of the present appeal by special leave are as follows: The appellant is a transporter engaged in transporting goods from Mangalore (Karnataka) to various destinations in the country. He is the owner of vehicle (hereinafter referred to as, "the appellant") bearing Registration No. KA-19A-3435. The companies, namely, M/s. PAS Petro Products and M/s. Vivek Petro Chemicals Private Limited, who are registered dealers under the provisions of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957 (for short, "the Act"), having their head office at Pondicherry/....
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....pass on the duplicate and triplicate copies of the application to the driver in-charge of the vehicle and retained the original application with him. In the transit pass so issued, the Check-post Officer had specifically directed the vehicle to cross the check-post at Hosur Road (outward), Attibele, within the time and date specified. In the instant case, the driver in-charge of the vehicle appeared to have created documents as if the duplicate transit pass was surrendered at N. Vaddarahalli Check-post, Mulbagal Taluk, Kolar District, and the duplicate copy of the transit pass was received by the officer, who had issued the transit pass in an envelope affixed with postal stamps used by the general public, instead of Government Service Po....
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....appeal and remanded the matter to the Check- post Officer for a fresh decision in accordance with law and in the light of the observations made by the first appellate authority in the said order. Respondent-State of Karnataka, at the instance of Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, preferred appeals before the Karnataka Appellate Tribunal (for short, "the Tribunal"), inter alia, questioning the correctness or otherwise of the orders passed by the first appellate authority. According to the State, the order of the first appellate authority was prejudicial to the interest of the Revenue. Appellant herein questioned the maintainability of the appeal filed on behalf of the State, as according to the appellant, the appeal had not been filed b....
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.... person-in-charge of such vehicle shall furnish the necessary information and obtain a transit pass in duplicate containing such particulars as may be prescribed, from the officer-in- charge of the first check-post or barrier after his entry into the State or after movement has commenced from the State as the case may be, or from the officer empowered for the purposes of sub-section (3) of section 28A, upon interception of the goods vehicle after its entry into the State or after movement has commenced, as the case may be. (2) The driver or the person-in-charge of the vehicle shall deliver within the stipulated time a copy of the transit pass obtained under sub-section (1) to the officer-in-charge at the last check-post or barrier before....
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....ion shall be recovered in the prescribed manner. (7) Where the owner of the vehicle who is assessed to tax under sub-section (4), is carrying, after such assessment, any goods taxable under this Act in a goods vehicle from any place outside the State and bound for any other place outside the State and is passing through the State, the prescribed authority may demand from such owner an amount equivalent to two times the tax leviable on such goods under this Act as security. (8) The prescribed authority after being satisfied that the goods carried in the goods vehicle in respect of which the security amount under sub-section (7) was collected, has passed through the State, shall refund such security amount to the owner. (9) The presc....
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....icle would be deemed to be the owner of the vehicle for the purposes of levy of tax and penalty; whereas, in the present case, the penalty has been levied on the owner of the vehicle whose vehicle had been hired by the consignor, ignoring Explanation 1. To refute the aforestated contentions put forth on behalf of the appellant, the learned counsel appearing for the respondent submitted that the tax is levied under sub-section (4), whereas under sub-section (5), the words are "tax leviable" and there is a difference between the levy of tax and the leviability of the tax and, therefore, sub-sections (4) and (5) are not interlinked or interconnected; and that levy of penalty is independent of sub-section (5). He further submitted that a cla....