TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2009 (2) TMI 787
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....erry during the year 1995-96 as per invoice dated May 16, 1995 for a sum of Rs. 12,92,198. Since the excavator was not liable for registration under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, the vehicle was not registered. While so, the appellant received a notice from the respondent on November 19, 2001 calling upon them to produce documents relating to the purchase of the excavator as well as its insurance details and the said notice was issued under section 8 of the Tamil Nadu Tax on Entry of Motor Vehicles into Local Areas Act, 1990 (Tamil Nadu Ordinance 1 of 1990). Subsequently an order of assessment was made by the respondent on September 18, 2002 whereby the entry tax was assessed at Rs. 74,215 and penalty of Rs. 1,48,430 was i....
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....ng to the learned counsel there was no requirement at the material point of time either for registration of the vehicle under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act or for filing a return before the adjudicating authority. Therefore there was no legal obligation on the part of the appellant to file the return immediately after the purchase of the JCB excavator. The learned counsel further contended that it was only after the judgment of the honourable Supreme Court clarifying the position that the JCB excavator is also liable for registration under the Motor Vehicles Act that the respondent has chosen to pass the assessment order, which is not legally sustainable, in the absence of provision conferring such right on the Department. The l....
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....on mark in the State of Tamil Nadu under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Section 7 provides that every person liable to pay tax under the Entry Tax Act shall furnish returns in such form, for such period, by such dates, and to such authority, as may be prescribed. Section 7A gives power to the officer empowered by the Government to call for accounts, registers, records, etc., from any person liable to pay tax under the Act. Section 8 deals with the assessment on the basis of returns as well as by resorting to best judgment assessment. There is a statutory period of limitation for a best judgment assessment under sub-section (3) or (4) of section 8. Sub-section (5) of section 8 clearly provides that no order of assessment sha....
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....t the honourable Supreme Court clarified the position with respect to section 2(j) of the Kerala Tax on Entry of Motor Vehicles into Local Areas Act, 1994, by holding that excavators and road rollers were also motor vehicles and therefore would attract tax under section 3 of the Kerala Tax on Entry of Motor Vehicles into Local Areas Act, 1994. It was further held that merely because the motor vehicle was put to a specific use such as being confined to an enclosed premises, will not render the same to be a different kind of vehicle. The judgment of the Supreme Court in Bose Abraham's case [2001] 121 STC 614 was delivered on February 1, 2001. It was only on November 19, 2001 long after the judgment of the Supreme Court that the respondent....
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....ity to pay tax by the importer in respect of a vehicle which is not liable to be registered under the Motor Vehicles Act, it cannot be said that such importer is also liable to pay tax consequent to the subsequent clarification as to whether an excavator was also a "motor vehicle". The Entry Tax Act provides timelimit for making a best judgment assessments, as well as reassessment. When there is no specific provision in the Entry Tax Act for assessing a person who fails to furnish returns, the respondent was not entitled to make an assessment after a considerable point of time. It is trite that in case the words used in a taxation statute are plain and unambiguous they have to be interpreted in such a manner so as to give full effect to th....