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2016 (9) TMI 356 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxDeclared goods - roasted groundnuts - rate of tax - validity of 1979 circular and withdrawn on 2004 - Whether roasted groundnuts are declared goods under Section 14 (vi) (i) of the Central Sales Tax, 1956? - scope of the term 'that is to say' - Held that: - It is trite to note that in Gopuram [1994 (8) TMI 233 - SUPREME COURT OF INDIA], three learned Judges of the Supreme Court have noticed and held that the usage of the phrase ''that is to say' indicates the intent of the legislature to make clear or fix the meaning of what is sought to be explained or defined. Their Lordships held that the phrase 'that is to say' indicates an exhaustive enumeration and therefore consequently the benefit of Section 14 must be limited to the goods expressly mentioned therein. Therefore it would be safe to say that there is no authoritative pronouncement on the issue as to whether roasted groundnut would stand covered under clause (vi) (i) of section 14. The 1979 circular in unequivocal terms held out that roasted groundnuts would be liable to be considered as falling within the ambit of clause (vi) (i). The 2004 circular represented an authoritative yet paradigm shift from what was permitted to hold the field for decades namely, the 1979 circular. The 2004 circular, it may be noted, did not rest itself upon a declaration of the law that roasted groundnut would not be covered. The 1979 circular was issued by the Commissioner of Trade Tax U.P. who was duly empowered in terms of rule 4 of the U.P. Trade Tax Rules, 1948. This circular was clearly binding upon the other subordinate authorities working under and administering the 1948 Act. That then takes us to the issue of whether the 2004 circular had the effect of impacting transactions which had already been subjected to tax prior thereto. To this the answer must obviously be in the negative. The 2004 circular can be rightly described as an outcome of a revisit and a reconsideration of the vexed issue of taxability of roasted groundnut and whether it was liable to be treated as an unclassified item. However the moment one arrives at the conclusion that the 2004 circular was merely an outcome of an exercise of "revisit" and "reconsideration" and not an expression of opinion based upon an authoritative pronouncement of law by a competent court, it must be treated as having prospective operation. Prior to the promulgation of the 2004 circular the 1979 circular held the field and all transactions in roasted groundnuts as entered into by the assessee be subjected to tax in accordance therewith - Decided in favor of assessee.
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