TMI Blog1961 (9) TMI 47X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pellate Tribunal confirming that of the department that this revision petition is filed. This revision is sought to be sustained on two grounds, (i) that exemption ought to have been granted to the petitioner on the turnover of Rs. 69,654-10-0 as it consisted of transactions that took place after the passing of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, and (ii) that, at any rate, tax should have been imposed only at 2 nP. per rupee and not at 3 nP. We will first take up the point bearing on the exemption. The contention on this issue is based on rule 27-A(1) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Rules, 1957. This rule was inserted by the notification issued in G.O. Ms. 1804, Revenue, dated 30th September, 1958, and it came into force on 1st October, 1958. It is convenient to quote here rule 27-A. "Rule 27-A. (1) Where any tax has been levied and collected under section 6 in respect of the sale or purchase inside the State of any declared goods and such goods are subsequently sold in the course of inter-State trade or commerce, the tax so levied and collected shall be refunded to the person in the manner and subject to the conditions specified in sub-rules (2) to (4). (2) Th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... On the same date, another notification was issued in respect of this section to the effect that it is section 15 as amended by the Central Sales Tax (Second Amendment) Act, 1958 (31 of 1958) that should come into force on 1st October, 1958. Thus it is the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, that was responsible for the insertion of a provision enabling the dealers to claim a refund of the tax paid as laid down in rule 27-A (1) already extracted above. The two sections of the Central Act that have a material bearing on the present enquiry are sections 14 and 15. Section 14 has listed goods which are of special importance in inter-State trade or commerce. These goods came to be termed as "declared goods" by virtue of the definition of section 2(c) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. Section 2(c) defines "declared goods" as meaning, "goods declared under section 14 to be of special importance in inter-State trade or commerce." Among the goods considered to be of special importance in interState trade or commerce, are oil-seeds. Item (vi) reads: "Oil-seeds, that is to say, seeds yielding non-volatile oils used for human consumption, or in industry, or in the manufacture of varnishes, soaps ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... levied shall be refunded to such person, in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed." It is seen that the purpose of these provisions is to clothe a dealer with a right to ask for refund in certain contingencies. The short question that falls for decision here is whether the assessee could take advantage of these provisions of law in respect of purchases and sales that were transacted prior to the promulgation of rule 27-A or the coming into force of section 15 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. The point presented by Sri Suryanarayanamurthy, learned counsel for the petitioner, is that the clause "where any tax has been levied" is indicative of the intention of the rule-making power of the legislature to give retrospective operation to this provision of law. According to him, this expression denotes that if tax was levied and collected after the passing of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957, it was obligatory on the department to refund that tax, if the conditions envisaged by the material rule or section 15 are satisfied. We are unable to accede to this proposition of the learned counsel. We are not persuaded that the language employed lends ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s", coconuts should be mentioned in Schedule IV and not in Schedule III as was done by the Andhra Pradesh Legislature. If coconuts are shown in Schedule IV, the department could charge only at 2 nP. in the rupee as per Schedule IV and not at 3 nP., as was sought to be imposed by the department. Before we deal with this contention, it is necessary to look at section 6 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act. It reads: "Notwithstanding anything contained in section 5, the sales or purchases of declared goods by a dealer shall be liable to tax at the rate, and only at the point of sale or purchase specified against each in the Fourth Schedule, irrespective of the quantum of his turnover in such goods; and the tax shall be assessed, levied and collected in such manner as may be prescribed." Schedule IV enumerates the declared goods in respect of which a single point tax is leviable under section 6 and also fixes the rate of tax at two naye paise in the rupee. Schedule III catalogues goods in respect of which a single point purchase tax only is leviable under section 5(3)(b). A reference to sections 5, 6 and the two schedules clearly establishes that the inclusion of coconuts in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... antic on our part now to discuss the scope of Article 14 of the Constitution as this has been the subject of numerous decisions of various High Courts and of the Supreme Court. Suffice it to say that one of the principles that emerges from these rulings is that Article 14 of the Constitution forbids only class legislation and not reasonable classification for the purposes of legislation. But, in order to pass the test of permissible classification, two conditions must be fulfilled, namely, (i) that the classification must be founded on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped together from others left out of the group, and (ii) that the differentia must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question. It is also recognised that the classification could be founded on different bases namely geographical, or, according to objects or occupations or the like. Therefore, all that is necessary in order to save a classification from the, vice of discrimination is that there should be a reasonable relation between the basis of the classification and the object of the Act. It cannot be disputed that the classif ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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