AVNEESH JHINGAN, J.

1. The petitioner has challenged the respondents' refusal to issue ‘C’ Forms in respect of natural gas purchased by it in the course of inter-state trade or commerce and used by it for the generation of electricity. The petitioner seeks a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to issue ‘C' Forms under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 and the Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules, 1957 in respect of the inter-state sales of natural gas by certain oil companies based in Gujarat to the petitioner in Haryana and used by the petitioner for generating electricity.

2. The petitioner is involved in the generation of electricity through its power plant at Bawal in Haryana. Natural gas is used for generation of electricity. The natural gas is supplied by M/s Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and M/s Indian Oil Corporation Limited from Gujarat.

3. The petitioner, before the Goods & Service Tax, 2017 (for short, ‘GST’) came into force, was registered under the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003 (for short, ‘the HVAT Act’) and under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for short, ‘the CST Act’). The registration under the CST Act continues to date. The certificate admittedly includes natural gas. The certificate is in Form B which in so far as it is relevant reads :-

Form B

Certificate of Registration

[See rule 5 (1)]

TIN No. 06342708008

This is to certify that M/S CAPRO POWER LTD. whose principal place of business within the State of Haryana has been registered as a dealer under sections 7 (1) 7 (2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.

The class (es) of goods specified for the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (3) of section 8 of the said Act is/are as follows and the sales of these goods in the course of inter-State trade to the dealer shall be taxable at the rate specified in that sub-section subject to the provisions of the sub-section (4) of the said section :

(d) for use in the generation or distribution of electricity or any other form of power.

4. The issue involved in the present petition is whether after the amendment of the CST Act, the petitioner is entitled to be issued ‘C' Forms in respect of the natural gas purchased by it in the course of inter-state sales and used by it for the generation of electricity. We have answered the question in the affirmative, in favour of the petitioner.

5. Before adverting to the issue involved, we quote the relevant provisions of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (‘CST Act'), Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules, 1957 [‘CST (R&T) Rules’], Central Sales Tax (Haryana) Rules, 1957 (‘CSTH Rules’), Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 (‘CGST Act’) and Haryana Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 (‘HGST Act’) and Declaration Form C.

(A) Sections 2 (b), (d), before and after amendment, (f) (i), 3, 6 (1), 7 (1), (2), (4), 8 (1), (2), (3), (4), 9 (1), (2) and 13 (4) (e) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, in so far as they are relevant read as under :

2. (b) "dealer" means any person who carries on (whether regularly or otherwise) the business of buying, selling, supplying or distributing goods, directly or indirectly, for cash or for deferred payment, or for commission remuneration or other valuable consideration, and includes –

(i) a local authority, a body corporate, a company, any co-operative society or other society, club, firm, Hindu undivided family or other association of persons which carries on such business;

........ x x x ............ x x x .......... x x x ..........

Original 2. (d) "goods" includes all materials, articles, Section commodities and all other kinds of movable property, but does not include newspapers actionable claims, stocks, shares and securities.

After 2. (d) “goods” means –

2017 (i) petroleum crude; amendment (ii) high speed diesel;

(iii) motor spirit (commonly known as petrol);

(iv) natural gas;

(v) aviation turbine fuel; and

(vi) alcoholic liquor for human consumption.

2. (f) “registered dealer” means a dealer who is registered under sect