TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (7) TMI 907
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....istration No. DP/5122. In this petition filed under section 8 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987, the petitioner has challenged the assessment order passed by the Commercial Tax Officer, Durgapur Charge (respondent No. 1) on June 17, 1999 in relation to the assessment period four quarters ending on March 31, 1997, appellate order dated September 18, 2001 passed by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (since re-designated as Joint Commissioner of Sales Tax), Durgapur Circle (respondent No. 2), revisional order dated October 15, 2009 passed by the honourable Judicial Member of West Bengal Commercial Taxes Appellate and Revisional Board (in short, "Board") (respondent No. 3). Against the assessment order dated June ....
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....rity. According to the petitioner, it sold coal tar and coal tar pitch during the period under assessment and the items falling within the meaning of chemicals are exigible to tax at five per cent and not 12 per cent as per entry 4 of Schedule VI to the 1994 Act which was in force at the material point of time. Moreover, the petitioner did not make any purchase from unregistered dealers. In the circumstances, it has been alleged in the petition that determination of TSPP at Rs. 1,05,092 and levy of purchase tax thereon were not proper. The petitioner has also questioned the propriety of levy of interest. Sri P.K. Roy, learned advocate appearing for the petitioner, submits that coal tar pitch is derivative of coal tar. As per his submi....
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....m that this shows that the petitioner admitted that general rate of tax on such item was 12 per cent. He further draws our attention to Notification No. 1109FT dated April 20, 1995. The said notification detailed the items falling within Schedule IV to the 1994 Act and rate of tax on such items. Item mentioned against serial No. 96 is "coal tar" and the specified rate of tax is 12 per cent. He further questions the correctness of the claim as preferred by the petitioner relying on the ready reckoner referred to hereinbefore. He refers to the commodity classification and code published by the Directorate of Commercial Taxes in the year 1998 wherein chemicals have been classified in three broad categories, namely, heavy chemicals, fine chemic....
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....es; (v) Pitch Coal tar pitch is a dark brown to black amorphous residue left after coal tar is redistilled. It is composed, almost entirely of polynuclear aromatic compounds and constitutes 48-65 per cent of the usual grades of coal tar. Coal tar is used as raw material for plastics, solvents, dyes, drugs and other organic chemicals. The crude or refined product or fractions thereof are also used for water proofing, paints, pipe coating, roads, roofing, insulation, as pesticides and sealants. Coal tar pitch is used as binder for carbon electrodes, base for paints and coatings. It is also used for impregnation of fibre pipe for electrical conduits and drainage, foundry core compounds, briquetting coal, tar bonded refractory brick, p....
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....l composition of these two items are different and their uses are also not identical. Coal tar pitch, as it appears to us, is a distinct commercial commodity different from coal tar and coal tar pitch falls very much within the meaning of chemicals. In entry 4 of Schedule VI to the 1994 Act, the entry is chemicals including naphtha, costic soda, paraffin, dyes, hydrogene peroxide, industrial gas and solvent oils but excluding those specified in this Schedule or in any other Schedule. There is no specific entry of coal tar pitch in any Schedules and hence it can very well be inferred that it falls within the meaning of chemicals for the purpose of levy of tax at five per cent. Admittedly, it has not been shown in any of the groups of chemica....