TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2008 (12) TMI 709
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....aging Committee or Co-operative Society of State or Central Government servants on a no-profit no-loss basis for the benefit of the said State or Central Government employees is not applicable to Corporation staff in spite of G.O.Ms. No. 600 declaring them as Government servants?" The petitioner is a co-operative society registered under the Tamil Nadu Co-operative Societies Act and the membership of the society is confined to the servants of the Madras Corporation. The assessee is running a cooperative stores as well as a canteen. During the assessment year 1994-95 the assessee failed to produce the accounts for verification and as such a notice of best judgment assessment was served on the assessee. In compliance with the said notice, th....
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.... the Tribunal and the Tribunal was of the view that the exemption was only in respect of tax payable on the sales by canteen run by a managing committee or co-operative society of State or Central Government servants on a no-profit no-loss basis for the benefit of the said State or Central Government employees. Since the petitioner was not a co-operative society of Government servants and as the sales were not effected to the staff members of the State or Central Government, the Tribunal rejected the contention that the staff of the Madras Corporation has to be equated to the State or Central Government servants so as to enable them for exemption granted by the relevant Government Order. Accordingly, the Tribunal dismissed the appeal. Aggri....
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....rable Supreme Court in Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation v. Income-tax Officer [1964] 52 ITR 524 in support of his contention that a orporation constituted under the Road Transport Corporation Act has a separate personality distinct from the State though the Corporation is a fully owned State Corporation. According to the learned Special Government Pleader the same analogy is applicable to the present case. The only dispute in the present tax case relates to the claim of exemption made by the petitioner on the ground that the members of the Madras Corporation are all Government servants. It is trite that Municipal Corporation is also a "State" within the meaning of article 12 of the Constitution of India. Even though Governm....
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....l of a State on account of his subsisting contract with the Government and other authorities observed that a body would answer the definition of "State" under article 12, if it is financially, functionally and administratively dominated by or under all pervasive control of the "Government". But on the other hand where the control by the Government is merely regulatory, whether under any statute or otherwise, it would not serve to make the body "State". With respect to the status of local and statutory authority, the honourable Supreme Court observed thus: ". . . Thus the very decisions relied on by the High Court make it clear that 'instrumentalities of State' are different from 'State Government', though both may answer th....
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....nment servants" for particular purposes, cannot be taken as the basis to contend that the Corporation servants are also "Government servants". The issue as to whether the servants of the municipality also would come under the definition "Government servant " was considered by a Division Bench of this court in K. Murugesan v. State of Tamil Nadu [1994] 95 STC 350 and the Division Bench indicated that though the municipality is governed by the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Municipal Councils Act it is a separate corporate body having its own seal and personality, independent of the State Government and the fact that the State Government exercises certain power over the municipality does not by itself make the municipality a part of the Govern....