TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (10) TMI 363
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....d relief for several years both prior to and after the period in question consistently. This is not in dispute. 3. While this was so, for the period 2003-04, the Assessing Authority questioned the claim of concessional rate of tax, by issuance of notice dated 25.5.2009. The notice proposed to withdraw the benefit of concessional rate of tax granted at the original instance and assess the sales at regular rate of tax on the ground that no Register of Declarations maintained in the prescribed manner, has been filed in support of the petitioners' claim. Various discrepancies in the Forms filed were also pointed out. In addition to the proposed rejection of the claim for concessional rate, other proposals for modification of returned turnover were also made in the notice. 4. The petitioner sought some time on 05.06.2009 to file a reply and thereafter filed detailed objections on 30.06.2009 explaining the basis of the claim and reiterating its eligibility for concessional rate under section 3(4) of the Act. Inter alia, the petitioner also sought some time to rectify the defects pointed out in the pre-assessment notice and re-present the Forms duly corrected and containing all detail....
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.... was thus no reason whatsoever for the Assessing Authority to have arbitrarily ignored the request for reasonable time as sought for by the petitioner or the instructions of his superior to grant the time as sought for by the petitioner. Thus, I am inclined to set aside the assessment on the ground of violation of principles of natural justice and I do so. 9. One of the issues that arisen in the assessment is a legal issue in respect of which all facts are available on record. I thus consider it appropriate to deal with the issue on merits and render a finding that will be given effect to by the Assessing Authority while finalising the assessment. The rest of the assessment shall be completed de novo as directed above. 10. The petitioner has claimed concessional rate of tax on goods, barring High Speed Diesel Oil, Light Diesel Oil and Molasses, sold by it to registered dealers within the State. The exemption claimed is in terms of section 3(3) of the Act, extracted below: 'Section 3(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection( 2),(2-A) or (2- C), but subject to the provisions of sub-section (1), the tax payable by a dealer in respect of sale of any goods includin....
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....n fact, part and parcel of the industrial activity itself and an activity that constitutes a necessary incident to maintain and ensure continuous process, a Clarification was issued by the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes on 24.10.2000 to the effect that all consumables including fuels, furnace oil and LSHS will be entitled to relief under section 3(3) of the Act. The only bar was in respect of the commodities mentioned in the proviso being High Speed Diesel Oil, Light Diesel Oil and Molasses. The position that furnace oil, LSHS and other fuels are entitled to relief under section 3(3) has thus been subject to intra- Departmental discussion extensively and confirmed only thereafter. 12. The impugned order of assessment however takes a stand contrary to the assessee by relying on the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Hindustan Transmission Products Limited V. State of Kerala (18 VST 587). The Officer however appears to have lost sight of the fact that the aforesaid judgment has been rendered in the context of the provisions of Section 5(3) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act (KGST) and the applicability of the same to the petitioners' case, one that is governed by the p....
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....x Act was different and a decision rendered in the context of one enactment cannot be relied upon to support a transaction under another state enactment unless the provisions are couched in comparable language and the object and intendment of the provisions are shown to be the same. All transactions of sale within the parameters of Tamil Nadu are, primarily, to be decided only in the light of the provisions of the domestic State law. 16. Section 3(3) of the TNGST Act stipulates only two conditions. The first, in regard to the nature of the goods, meaning thereby, that the benefit is available in respect of sale of 'any goods including consumables, packing material and labels' but excluding capital goods such as plant and machinery, and secondly the use of the goods in manufacture, assembling, packing or labelling of any goods other than alcohol and spirits. 17. Admittedly these two conditions are satisfied in the present case and there is no dispute raised by the Revenue in this regard. The proviso restricts such benefit to the sale of specified commodities, that is, High Speed Diesel Oil, Light Diesel Oil and Molasses, in respect of which, admittedly exemption has not been sou....