TMI Blog1995 (3) TMI 432X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l sales tax laws on purchase of raw materials and on sales of finished products for 5 years from the date of commencement of production. Paragraph 3 of the said resolution stipulated that the 1982 Scheme would be implemented by Udyog Vikash through AIDC in respect of large and medium scale industries and paragraph 4 of the resolution provided that eligible units under the 1982 Scheme are to register themselves with AIDC in case of large and medium scale units and apply for an eligibility certificate and the implementing agency will issue the eligibility certificate on the basis of documentary evidence produced by the eligible unit. 3.. Being encouraged by the 1982 Scheme, the petitioner, a public limited company, decided to establish an industry for manufacture and sale of tubes and pipes at Purb and Paschim Boragaon, Guwahati, in the district of Kamrup, State of Assam, and registered itself with the Udyog Vikash of the Government of Assam with registration No. UV/24 as per certificate dated September 28, 1984 (annexure A) and established the industry with loans from different financial institutions and started commercial production on August 2, 1984. The Udyog Vikash thereafter ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Pursuant to the 1986 Act, Notifications Nos. FTX. 28/87/Pt. II/37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 dated July 30, 1988, were also issued and under the scheme of the 1986 Act and the 1988 Rules and the notifications, persons undertaking to manufacture in the State of Assam goods could make an application to the Superintendent of Taxes for an authorisation certificate and if he was granted an authorisation certificate, any sale of goods to him for use by him as raw materials in the manufacture of goods in the State for sale for a period of 5 years from the commencement of production was not liable to tax with effect from the commencement of the Act. For the period from October 15, 1982 up to the commencement of the Act, any tax paid by such a person was also to be refunded subject to the conditions specified in the notification made in that behalf. Similarly, a person holding a certificate of eligibility issued by the appropriate authority and the authorisation certificate was also not liable to tax under the local sales tax laws on its sale of finished goods for a period of five years from the date of commencement of production. The 1988 Rules further provided that an application for an authorisa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Commissioner of Taxes, Assam, has taken a decision that the petitioner was not entitled to any sales tax concession under the 1986 Act and in view of the said decision of the Commissioner of Taxes, Assam, the Superintendent of Taxes, Guwahati unit, has rejected the application of the petitioner for issue of authorisation certificate under the 1986 Act. He vehemently argued that it was not for the Commissioner of Taxes, Assam or the Superintendent of Taxes, Guwahati, Unit-A, to decide the question as to whether the petitioner was entitled to any sales tax concession under the 1986 Act but for the Udyog Sahayak set up at the Assam Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. to issue the certificate of eligibility certifying that the petitioner was entitled to the sales tax exemption under the 1982 Scheme on its purchase of raw materials and on its sale of goods manufactured from such raw materials in its industrial unit. Mr. Bhattacharjee cited before me the decisions of the Allahabad High Court in Kumar Fuels v. State of Uttar Pradesh [1986] 63 STC 467; (1986) 18 STL 35 and in the case of Newel (Calcutta) Private Ltd. v. State of Uttar Pradesh (1988) 26 STL 190 wherein it has been held ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r. Bhattacharjee, I find that they were based on the interpretation of the provisions of the U.P. Sales Tax Act and the contentions raised in the present case which will have to be decided on the basis of the provisions in the 1986 Act, 1988 Rules and the notifications issued pursuance to the 1986 Act. Section 4 of the 1986 Act and rules 3 and 4 of the 1988 Rules and Part II in form I, which are relevant, are quoted hereinbelow: "4. Certificate of authorisation.-(1) A person undertaking to manufacture in the State such goods, as may be prescribed, may make an application in the prescribed form to the prescribed authority and within the prescribed time for a certificate of authorisation for the purposes of sub-section (1) of section 3. (2) If the authority to whom an application is made under sub-section (1) is satisfied that the application is in conformity with the provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder it shall grant to the applicant a certificate of authorisation in the prescribed form which shall specify the class or classes of goods for purposes of sub-section (1) of section 3 and the period for which it shall remain valid. (3) A certificate of authorisation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Sahayak set up at the District Industries Centre of the district where the industrial unit is located; (ii) In respect of an industrial unit in the small-scale sector where the total capital investment in plant and machinery exceeds Rs. 10 lakhs but does not exceed Rs. 35 lakhs-from Udyog Sahayak set up at the Directorate of Industries, Assam; (iii) In respect of an industrial unit in the ancillary sector where the total capital investment in plant and machinery exceeds Rs. 10 lakhs but does not exceed Rs. 45 lakhs-from Udyog Sahayak set up at the Directorate of Industries, Assam; (iv) In any other case-from Udyog Sahayak set up at the Assam Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. Explanation.-The words 'small' and 'ancillary' in these rules shall have the meaning assigned to them by the Government of India from time to time; (b) a certificate obtained from the Director of Employment, Government of Assam, to the effect that the number of local people employed on the date of the application in the new industrial unit (in respect of which the application is made) including those in the management cadre is not less than eighty per centum of the total number of persons empl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 86 Act is contrary to section 4 of the 1986 Act and rule 4 of the 1988 Rules. 9.. Regarding the claim of the petitioner for exemption of Assam finance sales tax for the period from August 2, 1984 to August 1, 1989 on the finished goods manufactured and sold by the petitioner, Notification No. FTX 28/77/Pt. II/40 issued by the State Government in exercise of the powers under section 3B of the Assam Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1956, introduced by the 1986 Act is quoted hereinbelow: "No. FTX.28/77/Pt.II/40-In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3B of the Assam Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1956 (Assam Act 11 of 1956) (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), the Governor of Assam directs that no dealer shall be liable to pay tax under the Act in respect of sales of goods produced by him in any new industrial unit in Assam for a period of five years from the date of commencement of production in such industrial unit subject to the following conditions: (a) the dealer has not collected any amount by way of sales tax in any form or manner in respect of such sales; (b) this notification shall not apply to sales made during the period: (i) from the 15th October, 1982 to 31st July ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he sale by him of any goods to a person possessing a valid authorisation certificate, hereinafter in this Act referred to as 'holder', if such goods are specified in such certificate as intended by the holder for use by him as raw materials in the manufacture of goods in the State for sale by him: Provided that where tax has been paid under any sales tax law in respect of any goods sold to or, as the case may be, purchased by any person during the period from the 15th day of October, 1982 to the commencement of this Act, such tax shall be reimbursed to such person, in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be specified by the State Government in a notification made in this behalf in the Official Gazette if; (i) such person would have been entitled to a certificate of authorisation under sub-section (2) of section 4 and the goods sold to him could have been specified in such certificate as intended by him for use as raw materials by him in the manufacture of goods in the State, or (ii) such person would have been entitled to exemption in respect of such goods by virtue of a notification made under section 3A of the Assam Purchase Tax Act, 1967 (Assam Act 19 of 1967) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd the Superintendent of Taxes seems to have rejected the said claim of the petitioner for refund of taxes paid under the Assam Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1956, for purchase of raw materials merely because the Commissioner of Taxes had decided that the petitioner was not entitled to any sales tax concession under the 1986 Act. The impugned order dated September 21, 1990, in so far it rejected the claim of the petitioner for refund of tax paid under the Assam Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1956 on purchase of raw materials during the period from August 1, 1984 to July 31, 1988 was, therefore, contrary to law. 11.. Regarding the claim of the petitioner for refund of the amount of tax paid under the Assam Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1956, on purchase of raw materials for the period from August 1, 1988 to August 1, 1989, it will appear from a bare reading of sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 3 of the 1986 Act quoted above that if the petitioner possessed valid authorisation certificate issued under the 1986 Act and if the goods purchased by the petitioner were specified in such certificate as intended by the petitioner for use by him as raw materials in the manufacture of goods in the State f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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