TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (3) TMI 330
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....thereby upheld order of Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal which arose out of orders under Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') passed by the original authority as well as appellate authority, all against the appellant. 2. For both the assessment years the dispute is confined to an issue of law relating to classification of the goods sold by the appellant. According to the appellant it is engaged in the sale of electronic goods (survey instruments) imported from other countries and such goods should rightfully fall within Entry 50, Part B of Schedule I of the Act attracting rate of 3%. On the other hand the authorities have taken the stand that survey instruments, whether electronic or otherwise, are cove....
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....tent finding of the authorities based upon appellant's own declaration in respect of goods which were imported and declared before the customs authorities as survey instruments, that the goods are covered by the generic expression 'survey instruments'. The main controversy is whether on account of being electronic survey instruments the goods would be out of Entry 14 so as to fall under Entry 50. The High Court and all the authorities have taken a consistent view that Entry 50 itself clarifies that it covers all electronic instruments, apparatus, other than those specified elsewhere in the Schedule and since the goods in question are specified under the generic term 'survey instruments' in Part F Entry 14, they will stand excluded from Entr....
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....ound, Entry 50 of Part-B is meant to accommodate only such left over electronic system, apparatus etc. which are not specified elsewhere in the Schedule and are therefore chargeable at the rate of 3%. Clearly, if specified elsewhere and chargeable at a different rate, they cannot be included under Entry 50. This conclusion is further strengthened by a look at some of the entries in Part-F, just preceding Entry 14. Entries 10, 11, 12 and 13 cover goods chargeable at the rate of 16%, such as typewriters, teleprinters, tabulating, calculating machines and duplicating machines etc. In all these four entries there is a specific exclusion of electronic variety of these machines. On the other hand in relevant Entry no. 14 such exclusion of electro....
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....nt and are of no help to the appellant in the present case. 6. As a result, the Civil Appeals arising out of Tax Case Nos. 1834 of 2006 and 2307 of 2008 must fail. However, the Appeal arising out from Writ Petition containing challenge to imposition of penalty deserves further consideration in the light of submissions to the effect that appellant has been in same business since 1985 and no controversy or dispute of this nature ever arose except for the two assessment years under consideration. It has been pointed out that all earlier Schedules were re-written on account of extensive amendments in the year 1993 and since most of the electronic items were brought under Part-B, a genuine controversy or misunderstanding arose as to whether the....
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....imposed for failure to perform a statutory obligation. In such a situation the discretion has to be exercised judicially after consideration of all the relevant circumstances. Even if minimum penalty is prescribed, the authority may be justified in refusing to impose any penalty in some peculiar situations, such as, where the breach flows from a bona fide belief that the offender is not liable to act in the manner prescribed by the Statute. In Sanjiv Fabrics it was reiterated that there is a rebuttable presumption that mens rea is essential ingredient in every offence. For examining whether mens rea is essential for an offence created under a tax Statute, three factors require particular attention, (i) the object and scheme of the Statute; ....