TMI Blog1999 (6) TMI 473X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... itted stating the circumstances by which the petitioner considered themselves not a dealer. By letter dated November 9, 1998, the petitioner was informed that for chartering the tug vessel Kumari Tarini , the situs of lease undertaken is at NMPT, Mangalore. The responsibility of the lessor was to deliver and place the leased tug under disposal of lessee on daily hire charges. The petitioner was considered to be a lessor liable for registration and payment of tax under section 5-C of the KST Act, 1957. The contentions raised by the learned counsel for the petitioner in his letter were held not applicable. In the letter dated June 26, 1998, it was stated that the actual possession of the vessel always remained with the ownercompany. Although ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... waters or the continental shelf of India shall vest in the Union of India and thus it is the Central Government which has the jurisdiction. Even for altering the limits of the territorial waters of India a legislative Act is needed. The petitioner has made available the tug to the NMPT but employed its own personnel to man the tug as is evident from the agreement dated January 8, 1998. It is also stated that since the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes was directed by higher authorities to register the petitioner, therefore the petitioner cannot be directed to avail the remedy under the Act. The word delivery in the case of Time Charter has a different meaning which was not considered at all. 3.. I have considered over the matte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ained in a certain zone or belt, called the maritime or marginal belt, which surrounds a State and thus includes a part of the waters in some of its bays, gulfs and straits. and the learned author adds that the territorial waters are as much inseparable appurtenances of the land as are the territorial subsoil and atmosphere . Hyde on International Law, Second Edition, Volume I, page 452 after noting that the marginal seas bore such a relation to the nearest land as to be regarded as appurtenant to it , observed that it had come to be recognized. that a State was capable of substantially occupying a narrow rim of the sea adjacent to its ocean coasts, and of dealing with it, for most purposes, as though it were a part of the nationa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... propriate the natural products of the sea in the coast waters, especially the use of the fishery therein, is consistent only with the territorial character of the maritime belt. The argument..........that, if the belt is to be considered a part of State territory, every littoral State must have the right to cede and exchange its coast waters, can properly be met by the statement that territorial waters of all kinds are inalienable appurtenances of the littoral and riparian States. Similar views were taken in Susori v. Director of Fisheries (1965) 2 MLJ 35 and Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes v. Devar and Co. [1963] 14 STC 904 (Mad.). In Burmah Shell Oil Storage and Distributing Co. of India Ltd. v. Commercial Tax Officer [1960] ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ds which purely is a question of fact to be decided on the basis of the evidence which may be produced by either side cannot be considered over here. Petitioner has to raise these objections before the Assistant Commissioner, Commercial Taxes. A detailed reply may now therefore be filed within a period of four weeks which will be considered by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and appropriate order in accordance with law after hearing the petitioner would be passed. If the petitioner is aggrieved by the order he would be free to challenge the same by filing appeal which is an efficacious remedy under the Act. Petition stands disposed of with the above observations. Petition disposed of accordingly. - - TaxTMI - TMITax ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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