Back
2018 Supreme(Jhk) 1223
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
D.N. PATEL, AMITAV K. GUPTA, JJ.
M/s Tata Steel Limited - Petitioner
Versus
The State of Jharkhand, through the Secretary-cum-Commissioner, Commercial Taxes Department & Ors. - Respondents
W.P. (T) No. 4179 of 2018
Decided On : 24-10-2018
Advocate Appeared:
For the Petitioner: Mr. Kavin Gulati, Mr. Sumeet Gadodia, Ms. Shilpi John, Mr. Ranjeet Khushwaha, Mr. Ritesh Kr. Gupta, Mr. Vivek Raj, Ms. Vinamra Agrawal, Mr. Avi Tandon
For the Respondents: Mr. Atanu Banerjee
Headnote:
Sales of Goods Act, 1930 – Section 6 – Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 – Section 3(b) – Writ of Mandamus – Writ of Declaration – writ petition has been preferred basically for three prayers, out of which for the following two prayers arguments have been canvassed by the counsel for the petitioner for issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondent-authorities to issue statutory Form ‘C’ to the Petitioner in respect of inter-state purchases of goods made by it by way of transit purchases under Section 3(b) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 of a value of Rs.195,64,75,066.25 pertaining to financial years 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 – For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Declaration, declaring that at the time of issuance of statutory Form ‘C’, the Respondent-State of Jharkhand and/or it authorities cannot pre-judge and adjudicate the legality and propriety of the transactions of inter-State purchases of goods made by the Petitioner by way of transit purchases and the Respondent-State of Jharkhand has no authority under law to withhold issuance of statutory Form ‘C’ – Held, In this case, the petitioner says, the goods are meant for resale. The certificate of registration also shows that the said goods are meant for resale. – Learned counsel also points out-and rightly in our opinion-that after the Forty-sixth amendment to the Constitution, the goods used in executing work contracts are deemed to be sold and therefore there is a sale of the material used in execution of the works contracts. – Be that as it may, as stated above, the question whether a particular ‘C’ form has been issued rightly or wrongly is not a question which is relevant at this stage. – Court is concerned at this stage only with the supply of “C” forms to the petitioner by the commercial tax authorities. – Court, hereby direct the respondent-State that the application of the petitioner for supply of declaration in Form-C be considered and disposed of in accordance with law and in accordance with the aforesaid observations and in accordance with the judgments referred to hereinabove, within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a copy of the order of this Court, for the periods mentioned in this writ petition. – Order Accordingly
D.N. Patel, J.
1. This writ petition has been preferred basically for three prayers, out of which for the following two prayers arguments have been canvassed by the counsel for the petitioner:
“(i) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Mandamus, directing the Respondent-authorities to issue statutory Form ‘C’ to the Petitioner in respect of inter-state purchases of goods made by it by way of transit purchases under Section 3(b) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for short ‘C.S.T. Act’) of a value of Rs.195,64,75,066.25 pertaining to financial years 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 (up to 1st quarter);
xx xx xx
(iii) For issuance of an appropriate writ/order/direction, including Writ of Declaration, declaring that at the time of issuance of statutory Form ‘C’, the Respondent-State of Jharkhand and/or it authorities cannot pre-judge and adjudicate the legality and propriety of the transactions of inter-State purchases of goods made by the Petitioner by way of transit purchases and the Respondent-State of Jharkhand has no authority under law to withhold issuance of statutory Form ‘C’.”
2. Factual Matrix:
•? This petitioner is engaged in manufacturing of iron and steel for which registration has been obtained under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, (hereinafter referred to as the Act, 1956, for the sake of brevity). In the certificate of registration issued to this petitioner under Section 7 of the Act, 1956, several goods have been mentioned which they can purchase at a concessional rate of tax, provided the conditions mentioned in the Central Sales Tax Act, are fulfilled. These conditions are that the goods purchased ought to be used in manufacturing of another item or for resale of the goods. In the facts of the present case, the goods which are mentioned in this certificate of registration, have been purchased for manufacturing process.
•? The goods which are mentioned in the certificate of registration of this petitioner under the Act, 1956, either can be purchased from the State of Jharkhand or from other States. In the facts of the present case, the goods are purchased by this petitioner from various States of the country.
•? For purchase of the goods from various States of this country, again there are two methods. One is purchase of those goods which are mentioned in the certificate of registration of this petitioner, directly by the petitioner from the other States and another method is to purchase those goods through a dealer. It may happen that the goods which are mentioned in the certificate of registration are available either in abundance and at a cheaper price in the other States. The dealer is supposed to have more accurate knowledge about this than the petitioner and therefore sometimes it is advisable to purchase such goods through a dealer.
•? In the facts of the present case, the goods which are mentioned in the certificate of registration of this petitioner are purchased from other States through a dealer or dealers.
• ?For the purchase of those goods, specification has to be given by this petitioner to the dealers so that dealers will find out such goods from whole of the country. Thus what is conveyed by this petitioner to the dealer is to find out the goods which are mentioned in the certificate of registration from the other States.
• ?Now, the dealer, in turn, is finding out those goods from the other States and initially he will purchase those goods from the seller of the goods situated in other States. The manufacturer of those goods will assign the goods to the transporter. Movement of the goods has started. Now, the goods are said to be in transit. At this stage, the dealer who is engaged by this petitioner will put an endorsement for assignment of the consignment to this petitioner. This is known as, in the eye of law, “sale in transit”. Such type of sale is cov
