The central legal point established in the judgment is that the failure to mention raw materials in the registration certificate should not deprive the petitioner of the statutory concession.

ORDER

1. This matter is taken up by video conferencing mode.

2. These four revision petitions arise from a common order dated 21st November 2011, passed by the Full Bench of the Orissa Sales Tax Tribunal, Cuttack (Tribunal) dismissing the Petitioner's - M/s. National Aluminium Company Limited, Angul's (NALCO) appeals i.e. S.A. Nos.50 to 53 of 2010-11.

3. While admitting these revision petitions on 6th November 2012, the following three questions of law were framed by this Court:

'a) Whether under the facts and circumstances of the case, the Petitioner is entitled to concessional rate of Entry Tax under Rule 3(4) (b) of the O.E.T. Rules, on the purchase of raw materials like Coal, Caustic Soda, HFO and LDO etc., as admittedly, these goods are specified in part I and part II of the Schedule to the O.E.T. Act?

b) Whether under the facts and circumstances of the case, no Entry Tax is excisable on purchase of 'raw material' such as Coal, Caustic Soda, HFO and LDO, upto 6th November 2000 in view of Rule 3(4) (b) as existed prior to 2nd amendment of OET Rules? and

c) Whether under the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribunal having held Coal, Caustic Soda, HFO and LDO utilized by the Petitioner in its CPP units are all 'raw material' for production of electricity as a finished good, ought not to have disallowed concessional rate of tax on a completely new ground that such goods are not mentioned in the registration certificate as 'raw material' without examining the assessment records and giving a reasonable opportunity to the Petitioner that there is no requirement to disclose raw material in the registration certificate?'

4. It is clarified at the outset by Mr. Choudhury, learned counsel for the Petitioner that of the above three questions, question No.2 is peculiar to STREV No.31 of 2012 and not to the other three revision petitions since the said revision petition pertains to assessment year 1999-2000.

5. The background facts are that NALCO is a Public Sector Undertaking having its registered office at Bhubaneswar and having the following units:

'(i) 8.00 Lakh Tons per year Aluminium Refinery Plant at Damanjodi in the district of Koraput. Presently enhanced to 15.75 Lakhs Tons per Annum.

(ii) 2.10 Lakh Tons per year Aluminum Smelter Plant at Angul in the district of Angul (here-in-after referred to as 'Smelter Plant'). Presently enhanced to 3.45 Lakhs Tons per Annum.

(iii) Thermal Captive Power Plant of 720 Megawatt meant for Smelter Plant at Angul (here-in-after referred to as 'CPP'). Presently enhanced to 960 Megawatt.'

6. NALCO had got itself registered under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1957. It was allotted a separate registration under the Orissa Sales Tax Act (OST Act). The Smelter Plant was issued a registration certificate dated 20th May, 1982. For the Captive Power Plant (CPP), a separate registration certificate dated 16th August 1985, was issued under the OST Act and on introduction of the Orissa Value Added Tax Act, 2004 (OVAT Act), a separate registration number was allotted by the Sales Tax Department for the CPP and Smelter Plant.

7. During 1999-2000, NALCO had purchased coal from M/s. Mahanadi Coal Fields Ltd. (MCL) and other goods like Caustic Soda, HFO and LDO from various registered dealers inside Orissa and used these as raw materials for generation of electricity. This subsequently became the raw material in the continuous process of manufacturing of the finished products viz. Aluminium metal. NALCO purchased the aforementioned goods at a concessional rate of tax of 0.5 % against declaration Form E-15 as provided under Rule 3 (4) of the Orissa Entry Tax Rules, 1999 (OET Rules).

8. While completing the assessment proceedings on 31st March 2003, under Section 7 (4) of the Orissa Entry Tax Act, 1999 (OET Act), the Assessing Authority (AA) disallowed the claim of the Petitioner on the ground that Coal, Caustic Soda, HFO and LDO were raw materials used in the process of generation of electricity, which was subseque