TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2006 (11) TMI 554
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....ainst each item in the said Schedule and such tax shall be paid by every importer of such goods. The entry tax payable by an importer under this Act shall be charged on the purchase value of the goods specified in the Schedule at the rates as shown in the said Schedule: Provided that no such tax shall be payable on the entry of the goods which are meant or the exclusive use or consumption of the Defence Department of the Government of India: Provided further that no entry tax shall be levied on the entry of the goods into any local area for consumption or use therein which are the exclusive property of the Union Government. Provided also that no such tax shall be payable on the entry of such goods which are brought for the purpose of sale or use under the Assam Public Distribution of Articles Order, 1982. Provided further more that no tax shall be levied under this section on the entry of Scheduled goods into a local area, if it is proved to the satisfaction of the assessing authority in such manner as may be prescribed, that such goods have already been subjected to entry tax or that the entry tax has been paid by the importer or any ot....
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.... for consumption or use of such goods in works contract. 5. The writ petitioners run medical diagnostic clinics at Guwahati and these clinics imported sophisticated equipments from outside the country for these diagnostic clinics. Hospital equipments of all types including X-Ray, Ultrasound, Doppler and Scanning machine, other medical and diagnostic apparatus, parts and accessories thereof were all subjected to levy under the Act at the rate of eight paise in a rupee, vide Notification No. FTX. 146/2001/5, dated 8.1.2002, by insertion of Entry-3 to the list of taxable goods. The said entry was inserted in exercise of the powers contained under Section 3(4) of the AET Act. It is in these circumstances that the petitioners have not only challenged the vires of the Assam Entry Tax Act, 2001, but also the notification, dated 8.1.2002, aforementioned. 6. I have heard Dr. B.P. Todi and Mr. M.K. Choudhury, learned senior counsels, appearing for the petitioners, and Mr. K.N. Choudhury, learned Addl. Advocate General, Assam, for the respondents. 7. Dr. B.P. Todi and Mr. M.K. Choudhury, learned senior counsels, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, submit that in imposing entry ta....
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....b), Sub-clause (c) or Sub-clause (d) of Clause 29A of Article 366. 10. By Entry 54 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, the Constitution empowers the State to impose tax on sale or purchase of goods, other than newspapers; but the Constitution gives exclusive legislative jurisdiction to the Union to levy tax on import and export by virtue of Entry 92 (a) of List I of the said Schedule. Article 286 imposes limitations upon the powers of the State to enact sales tax legislation in respect of goods, which are imported into, or exported out of, the territory of India by laying down that no tax shall be imposed on sale or purchase, which takes place outside the State, and no tax shall be imposed on sale or purchase, which takes place in the course of import into, and export out of, the territory of India. Clause (1)(b) of Article 286 prevents a State from levying a sales tax on sale in the course of import into/or export out of, the territory of India so as not to interfere with legislative powers of the Union with respect to import and export across the customs frontier (Entry 41 of List I) and customs duties including export duties (Entry 83 of List-I). ....
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....w can be examined from yet another angle. Article 286(1)(a) of the Constitution imposes restriction on the power of the State to levy tax on sale and purchase, where such sale or purchase takes place outside the State. Section 4 of the Central Sales Tax Act provides as to when a sale or purchase of goods takes place outside the State. Section 3 of the Central Sales Tax Act provides as to when a sale or purchase of goods can be said to have taken place in the course of inter-State trade or commerce. There is no dispute that the State has no power to levy tax, when the sale or purchase of goods takes place in the course of inter-State trade or commerce. When the goods enter into a local area from outside the State pursuant to a sale, the same amounts to an inter-State sale and purchase and the State has no power to impose levy on such sale or purchase. If the contention of the petitioners is accepted, then, the State cannot have any power to levy entry tax, on the entry of the goods into any local area from outside the State, which may be brought into the State by virtue of sale and purchase thereof and the same thereby will also be hit by Article 286(1)(a) of the Constitution of Ind....
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....ed principle of interpretation of taxing statutes that in interpreting an enactment, the court has to go, normally, by its language and words used therein and if any particular word is open to more than one interpretation, then, the court has to choose that meaning, which would represent the true legislative intent. In Tarulata Shyam v. CIT and Ors. [1977] 108 ITR 345 (SC) the Apex Court has clarified the law, in this regard, thus: To us, there appears no justification to depart from the normal rule of construction according to which the intention of the Legislature is primarily to be gathered from the words used in the statute. It will be well to recall the words of Rowlatt, J, in Cape Brandy Syndicate v. IRC at. p. 71, that "in a taxing Act one has to look merely at what is clearly said. There is no room for any intendment. There is no equity about a tax. There is no presumption as to a tax. Nothing is to be read in, nothing is to be implied. One can only look fairly at the language used." Once it is shown that the case of the assessee comes within the letter of law, he must be taxed, however, great the hardship may appear to the judicial mind to be. 17. In Polestar E....