1998 (8) TMI 586

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....on certificate. By the said order, which has been passed by him in exercise of revisional power conferred on him under section 46(4) of the Bihar Finance Act, 1981 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), the Joint Commissioner has held that the petitioner is not entitled to exemption from payment of tax on purchase of raw materials under the Government Notification S.O. 95 dated April 4, 1994 (hereinafter referred to as "the notification") because it is not manufacturing any finished goods.   2.. The Government of Bihar adopted Industrial Policy, 1993, providing incentives to the entrepreneurs to establish new industries. One of the incentives was in the form of exemption from payment of sales tax on purchase of raw materials. Pursu....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....d after bringing the coil stretching it and then cutting according to the size as per the demand and thereafter put in the furnace and make it mild so that the steel so made can be used for manufacturing of various items like almirah, doors, etc., and in fact the different commodity de hors of the sheet roll is made out." Reply of paragraph 24 is contained in paragraph 33 of the counter-affidavit filed by the respondents, which is also reproduced below: "That with regard to the statements made in para 24 of the writ petition, it is stated that the petitioner do not have any furnace and, therefore, the statements made in this paragraph is incorrect and as such denied." In paragraph 24 of the writ petition, the petitioner has stated ....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

.... material' itself shows that what is ultimately produced is different goods than the raw material used. Similarly, the repeated use of the expression 'finished products' and the grant of exemption in the case of small-scale industries both in respect of raw materials as well as finished products indicates that these concessions at substantial cost to public exchequer were being provided with a view to encourage units engaged in the manufacture or production of goods and not to help those units which merely engaged themselves in some sort of processing whereunder the goods remain essentially the same goods even after the said process. Even if a process is adopted, the test is the same, viz., whether different goods emerge as a result of appl....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....chases of such goods." Sub-section (3) of section 7 of the Act specifically empowers the Government to grant exemption "subject to such conditions or restrictions as it may impose". When the Government grants exemption, it can, therefore, impose conditions subject to which exemption can be availed of by the industries. The notification, a copy of which has been filed as annexure 1 to the writ petition, has restricted the benefit of exemption to industries mentioned in clause 1 and even those specified industries can avail of the benefit only if they, as laid down by clause 2, produce/manufacture finished goods out of such raw materials. Therefore, it is not the definition of the word "manufacture" as given in section 2(n) of the Act, ....