9911796707
TMI Blog2008 (7) TMI 940X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... taka Sales Tax Act issued a show-cause notice on February 7, 2005 stating that the order passed by the Joint Commissioner of Commercial Tax (Appeals) in the appeal filed by the assessee against the order of reassessment passed by the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Tax (Assessment) 14, Bangalore has to be revised as the same is illegal, improper and prejudicial to the interest of the Revenue. According to him the assessing authority while concluding the assessment had levied the tax at 12 per cent on the A.C. sheets supplied by the assessee to the taluk panchayat and that the same has been reduced to four per cent by the Joint Commissioner by relying upon the second notification dated February 19, 1999 and such interpretation is contrary ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ITR 323 (SC); AIR 1985 SC 1698. Therefore, the assessee requested the Additional Commissioner of Commercial Tax to drop this proceeding. The Additional Commissioner of Commercial Tax after considering the reply and on considering the arguments of the assessee came to the conclusion that in view of section 8A of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, the concession shown to zilla panchayat under the notification dated March 30, 1996 cannot be extended to gram panchayat or the taluk panchayat and the Government in its wisdom in view of section 8A has granted concession to particular class of persons Therefore, held that the facts of K.P. Varghese case [1981] 131 ITR 597 (SC); AIR 1981 SC 1922 are different from the case of the assessee and allowed the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fortress out of dictionary but remember that statutes always have some purpose or object to accomplish and sympathetic and imaginative discovery is the surest guide to their meaning. We have noted the object of section 16(3) of the Act which has to be read in conjunction with section 24(2) in this case for the present purpose. If the purpose of a particular provision is easily discernible from the whole scheme of the Act, which in this case is to counteract, the effect of the transfer of assets so far as computation of income of the assessee is concerned, then bearing that purpose in mind, we should find out the intention from the language used by the Legislature and if strict literal construction leads to an absurd result, i.e., a result ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lying upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in K.P. Varghese case [1981] 131 ITR 597; AIR 1981 SC 1922: ". . . It is now a well-settled rule of construction that where the plain literal interpretation of a statutory provision produces a manifestly absurd and unjust result which could never have been intended by the Legislature, the court may modify the language used by the Legislature or even 'do some violence' to it, so as to achieve the obvious intention of the Legislature and produce a rational construction vide Luke v. Inland Revenue Commissioners [1964] 54 ITR 692; [1963] AC 557. The court may also in such a case read into the statutory provision a condition which, though not expressed, is implicit as constituting the basic a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... point of levy of sale or purchase, but not so as to enhance the rate of tax in any case: Provided that where the point of levy is altered under this sub-section in respect of any goods and if such goods have been subjected to tax under the unaltered entry, then such goods shall not be subjected to tax under the transferred entry. (3) The State Government may, by notification, cancel or vary any notification issued under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2A). (3A) . . . . . . (4) If any restriction or condition specified under sub-section (2) is contravened or is not observed by a dealer, the sales or purchases of such dealer may, with effect from the commencement of the year in which such contravention or non-observance took place, be as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or by any specified class of persons or on the sale or purchase of any specified class of goods by any specified class of dealers, is modified by an amendment to this Act." From the perusal of section 8A that the Government may extend the benefit of tax either by reducing it or granting concessional rate to any particular class of persons and the same has to be interpreted considering the background of such instructions. In the instant case though taluk panchayats, zilla panchayats or gram panchayat are created under the one Act, in the first notification concessional rate of taxes has been shown to zilla panchayats only. Subsequently, in the year 1999, such benefit is also extended to taluk panchayats and gram panchayats. We have noticed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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