2002 (4) TMI 909

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....s a registered dealer under the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 and also under the provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. According to the petitioner, it constructed a cold storage in Vijayawada for which purpose it was required to purchase cooling systems, refrigeration and plant and machinery to install the storage plant for maintaining and preserving the required temperatures for storage of various commodities such as foods, chillies, tamarind, fruits, etc. While so, the first respondent, on the basis of the application filed by the petitioner, had issued a registration certificate under the provisions of the Central Act on November 8, 2000 and in the said registration certificate, the first responden....

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....h authority shall give an opportunity of being heard to that person so that he could have placed all the relevant material before the appropriate authority before imposing penalty. The learned counsel states that though a reply dated February 5, 2002 has been filed by the petitioner, there was no occasion for the petitioner to place all the relevant material before the appropriate authority to explain the position and therefore, the order passed by the first respondent imposing penalty is violative of the provisions of section 10A of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 and on this ground alone, the matter has to be remitted to the registering authority setting aside the order impugned. 6.. On the contrary, the learned Special Government Pleade....

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....g one-and-a-half times the tax which would have been levied under sub-section (2) of section 8 in respect of the sale to him of the goods, if the sale had been a sale falling within that sub-section." 9.. A reading of the above section gives us an impression that mere filing a representation or reply is not sufficient. This section further imposes an obligation on the authority to give a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the other side. The language used in sub-section (1) of section 10-A of the Act, particularly the words "after giving him a reasonable opportunity of being heard" impose an obligation on the authority to give an opportunity of being heard to the other side, so that the other side would be in a better position to pla....