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2019 (6) TMI 802

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....ch diesel is required. Since the petitioners were intending to purchase such diesel in the course of inter-State trade and commerce, they made an application dated 13.10.2018 for incorporation of High Speed Diesel Oil in the registration certificate under the CST Act. The petitioners also addressed letters dated 17.12.2018 to the jurisdictional officer informing him of the on-line application made for incorporation of diesel in the registration certificates under the CST Act. In both the cases, the on-line applications made by the petitioners were allowed and the registration certificate was approved. The petitioners have placed on record a copy of the snapshot of the website of the Commercial Tax Department which clearly reflects the same. The fact that addition of High Speed Diesel Oil as eligible goods for use in mining had been approved with effect from 24.10.2018 was also visible on the website. However, thereafter, the petitioners received letters dated 27.2.2019 of the jurisdictional authority informing the concerned petitioner that the application for amendment of registration certificate had been erroneously approved because the concerned officer was seeking guidance of th....

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....Mr. Utkarsh Sharma, learned Assistant Government Pleader invited the attention of the court to the definition of "goods" as defined under section 2(d) of the CST Act after the same came to be amended by the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2017, to point out that the definition of goods is now restricted to the six specified items mentioned thereunder. It was submitted that prior to the coming into force of the GST Act, the petitioners were not dealing in or claiming usage of any of the items as specified in the amended section 2(d) of the Act and, therefore, the registration of the petitioners under the CST Act ceased to be active upon the goods and service tax regime coming into force and the petitioners having migrated to the provisions of the said Act, and, therefore, post migration the petitioners are registered under the Goods and Services Tax Act with effect from 1.7.2017. It was submitted that the petitioners made a request for amendment of the CST registration certificate so as to include High Speed Diesel Oil as commodity on 13.12.2018; however, at the time when such application was made, the petitioners could not be said to be holding a valid registration under the CST Act....

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....e petitioners does not cease to exist. 6.1 In support of his submissions, the learned advocate placed reliance upon the decision of the Supreme Court in The State of Madras v. N.K. Nataraja Mudaliar, (1968) 22 STC 376. Strong reliance was placed upon the decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Cargo Power Limited v. State of Haryana and others, (2018) 53 GSTR 24 (P&H), wherein the court has held that even after the implementation of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, the items mentioned in amended entry 54 are governed by the CST Act. Further, a notification under section 9(2) of the Haryana Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 not having been issued, natural gas continues to be covered under the CST Act. The court further noted that the registration certificate given to the petitioner therein under the CST Act had not been cancelled till date and that as per section 7(4) of the CST Act, the registration certificate granted has to be amended or cancelled and that such provisions had not been invoked. 7. In the aforesaid backdrop, before adverting to the merits of the case, reference may be made to the record as placed before this court. A perusal of the registration c....

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....ot also be registered under the CST Act, when the CST Act requires a person who deals in or claims usage of the goods specified thereunder to be registered under that Act for getting the benefit of reduced rate of tax under section 8 thereof? 10. Dealing with the first question, it may be necessary to refer to the provisions of section 7 of the CST Act, which to the extent the same are relevant for the present purpose, read as under:- "7. Registration of dealers.--(1) Every dealer liable to pay tax under this Act shall, within such time as may be prescribed for the purpose, make an application for registration under this Act to such authority in the appropriate State as the Central Government may, by general or special order, specify, and every such application shall contain such particulars as may be prescribed. (2) Any dealer liable to pay tax under the sales tax law of the appropriate State, or where there is no such law in force in the appropriate State or any part thereof, any dealer having a place of business in that State or part, as the case may be, may, notwithstanding that he is not liable to pay tax under this Act, apply for registration under this Act to the aut....

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.... or not a dealer is required to be registered under the CST Act or whether or not to make an amendment in an existing certificate as contemplated under clause (a) of sub-section (4) of section 7 of the CST Act. The officer who is notified as an authority by the Central Government, is required to act independently while exercising powers under section 7 of the CST Act, and cannot refuse to decide an application on the ground that he wants to seek the guidance of the higher authority. The authority in which powers are vested under section 7 of the CST Act should be competent enough to exercise the powers vested in it on its own without having to seek guidance from anyone, otherwise it reflects on the lack of competence on the part of such authority in discharging the powers vested in it by the Central Government. Therefore, the submission advanced on behalf of the respondents that the whole objective behind keeping the order of approval in abeyance is to ensure that nothing contrary to the statute is permitted and if need arises, the higher authority may look into the whole issue and resolve the same in accordance with Iaw, flies in the face of the provisions of section 7 of the CST ....

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....ertificate would automatically stand cancelled or would become inactive. In fact there is no concept of an inactive registration. Moreover, the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2017, whereby the definition of goods under section 2(d) of the CST Act came to be amended and came to be restricted to the commodities specified thereunder also does not provide for automatic cancellation of the registration certificates of dealers who were not dealing in the commodities specified in the amended section 2(d). 11.1 It may be noted that pursuant to the coming into force of the Goods and Services Tax Acts, the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as the "GVAT ACT") came to be amended and by virtue of section 27A of that Act, it was provided that all registered dealers not dealing with goods defined in section 2(13) shall be deemed to be deregistered from the date of coming into force of the Gujarat Value Added Tax (Amendment) Act, 2017 and their registration certificates shall stand cancelled. Thus, the GVAT Act provides for automatic deregistration of dealers not dealing with goods denied in section 2(13) thereof, whereas no such provision providing for automatic deregis....