TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2014 (8) TMI 1247
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e purpose of said manufacturing activity, the Appellant Company secured certain mining leases of limestone and dolomite, the details of which may not be necessary for the present purpose. 2. The mineral extracted pursuant to such mining leases is made exigible to two imposts (1) a cess and (2) a tax levied under the A.P. (Telengana Area) District Boards Act, 1955 and Andhra Pradesh (Mineral Rights) Tax Act, 1975 respectively. 3. In the light of the judgment of the Constitution Bench of this Court in India Cements Ltd. etc. etc. v. State of Tamil Nadu etc. AIR 1990 SC 85, the constitutionality of the abovementioned two imposts came to be challenged by various parties including the Appellant herein successfully before the High Court. 4. It....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....) 5 SCC 670 upheld the constitutionality of the said Act. 7. However, the writ petition of the Appellant along with a batch of others was pending for quite some time on the file of the High Court. Meanwhile, by the judgment dated 31st July 2001 in the District Mining Officer and Ors. v. Tata Iron and Steel Company and Anr., (2001) 1 SCC 358, this Court declared that the judgment of this Court in Kannadasan's case (supra) is "not correct in law" and held that "the Validation Act to be valid, but such validated Acts do not authorize any fresh levy or collection in respect of liabilities accrued prior to 4.4.1991". 8. In other words, this Court in District Mining Officer's case (supra) held that any amount representing the tax liabil....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... Appellant herein by the judgment dated 12.9.2001 is inconsistent with the declaration of law made by this Court in Mafatlal Industries Ltd. and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors., (1997) 5 SCC 536. The said review application came to be disposed of by the impugned judgment in substance holding that though the payment was made by the Appellant under protest towards the cess and mineral rights tax dues pertaining to the periods described earlier, the Appellant is not automatically entitled for the refund of the said amounts notwithstanding judicial declaration that the levy and collection of said amounts is unconstitutional unless the Appellant establishes before the concerned authority that the Appellant had not passed on the tax liability to ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....d a tax liability which was on the Forest Department and the Appellants have consumed the goods for manufacturing paperboards, etc. Therefore, the question of the Appellants passing on the tax liability to the consumer, on the facts of this case, would not arise. Consequently, the Appellants are entitled to refund of the tax collected from them, not for the entire period but for the period commencing three years prior to the date of filing of the writ petition." 14. It can be noticed from the above extract that it was a case where the decision turned on the facts of that case. 15. This Court in Union of India and Ors. v. Solar Pesticides Pvt. Ltd. and Anr., (2000) 2 SCC 705 once again had to deal with the question "whether the doctrine of....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... of Section 27 of the Customs Act in support of their conclusion. In our opinion, the existence or otherwise of such a provision makes no difference for the correctness of the above stated principle of law Any person carrying on the activity of manufacture of goods utilising some raw material which had already suffered some tax would normally include both the tax component and the cost of such raw material into the cost of the final product and pass on the same to the consumer of the manufactured product. Therefore, such a person would still not be entitled to claim refund of the tax which is otherwise illegally collected by the State unless he establishes to the satisfaction of the State that he had not passed on the tax liability whether ....