The court ruled that silence in earlier assessments regarding VAT reimbursement does not equate to rejection of claims, emphasizing the right to process claims despite non-participation in prior related civil matters.

JUDGMENT :

(MANISH CHOUDHURY, J.)

1. The petitioner, M/s Digboi Carbon Pvt. Ltd. has preferred the instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking setting aside and quashing of an impugned Order dated 22.09.2022 whereby the respondent no. 3, that is, the Commissioner of Taxes, Assam has rejected reimbursement proposals of Value Added Tax paid by the petitioner on Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] purchased within the State.

2. The petitioner is a private limited company incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and it has its Registered Office at Industrial Estate, Bazaltali, Post Office – Borgurie, District – Tinsukia, Assam. It has an industrial unit also at Industrial Estate, Bazaltali, Post Office – Borgurie, District – Tinsukia, Assam where it is engaged in the manufacture of Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC].

3. In order to appreciate the issues raised in this writ petition, the sequence of events leading to the issuance of the impugned Order dated 22.09.2022 needs to be delineated, at first.

I. Case projected in the writ petition :-

4. The petitioner has stated that it used to purchase Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] within the State of Assam on payment of local taxes and after conversion of Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] into Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC], different quantities of Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] were sold in the course of inter- State trade or commerce during the Assessment Years under reference and it paid Central Sales Tax on the sold Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] as per the provisions of the CENTRAL SALES TAX ACT , 1956 [‘the CST Act’] and other provisions of law in force. It is the case of the petitioner that as per Section 15[b] of the CST Act, where any tax was levied under the local law on the sale or purchase of any goods of special importance, referred to in Section 14 of the CST Act, and such goods were subsequently sold in the course of inter-State trade or commerce and Central Sales Tax was paid thereon, the amount of tax paid under the local tax law was reimbursable to the dealer paying such local taxes.

5. The petitioner has projected that during the reference period, the petitioner purchased Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] from various refineries in Assam by paying Value Added Tax [VAT] under the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 [‘the AVAT Act’, for short] and sold the same after converting the purchased Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] into Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC], which was a commodity declared to be of special importance under the head, ‘Coal, including Coke in its forms’, in the course of inter-State trade or commerce. The petitioner had accordingly complied with the provision of paying the Central Sales Tax on such Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC].

6. It is stated that for the Assessment Year : 2006-2007, the petitioner submitted its application on 26.04.2010 under Section 50 [1] of the AVAT Act read with Rule 29 of the ASSAM VALUE ADDED TAX RULES , 2005 [‘the AVAT Rules’, for short] for refund of a sum of Rs. 34,22,010/- being the local taxes paid on purchase of Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] from various refineries within the State of Assam, it sold the same after converting the same into Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] to various States in the course of inter-State trade or commerce and the Central Sales Tax was paid on such inter-State sales.

6.1. It is stated that f