TMI Blog2020 (5) TMI 520X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the provisional anti-dumping duty and the imposition of the final anti-dumping duty is legal and valid? - In the said decision there is no reference to the decision of the Division Bench of this court in SONY INDIA LTD. VERSUS COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER, CHENNAI [ 2007 (9) TMI 530 - MADRAS HIGH COURT] though it was stated by the learned counsel for the petitioner. The decision of the Honourable Supreme Court in JINDAL STAINLESS LTD. AND ANR. VERSUS STATE OF HARYANA AND ORS. [ 2016 (11) TMI 545 - SUPREME COURT] is also of no relevance to the facts of the present case as it was concerned with entry tax. The issue canvased by the petitioner here has already been negatived by the Division Bench of this Court in the above case. The issue having attained finality in Sony India Ltd and others Vs. CTO, it is no longer open for this court to either refer the issue to a Division Bench of this Court or take a contra view - learned counsel for the petitioner has also neither produced any other decisions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court which has taken a contrary view nor has produced any order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court staying operation of the decision of the Division Bench of this ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ported goods. It reads as under:- PART-G Goods which are taxable at the rates specified below Sl.No. Description of goods Point of levy Rate of tax 8 Imported cigarettes, medium density fibre boards, textiles and other items falling in Parts D and E of the First Schedule First Sale 20 5. By the TNGST (7th Amendment) Act, 2002, (Act No.22 of 2002), certain other amendments were also incorporated. The Eleventh Schedule to the TNGST Act was introduced along with Section 3(2-C). After Sub-Clause (2-B) to Section 3 of the TNGST Act, Sub-Clause (2- C) was inserted which reads as follows:- (2-C) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (1), in the case of goods mentioned in the Eleventh Schedule, the tax under this Act, shall be payable by a dealer at the rate and at the point specified therein on the turnover or quantity in each year relating to such goods. 6. Sl.No.9 to the Eleventh Schedule which was introduced reads as under:- THE ELEVENTH SCHEDULE [See section 3(2-C)] ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . iv. Indian Sugar and General Industry Export Import Corporation Ltd. Vs. Commercial Tax Officer and others, (2002) 127 STC 339 12. According to the petitioner, the impugned amendment has rendered the goods imported from Bhutan uncompetitive as they suffer higher rate of tax when compared to goods locally manufactured and sold. The petitioner has relied on the following passages from the decision of this Court in Indian Sugar and General Industry Export Import Corporation Ltd. (cited supra):- 33. On principle also there is no reason for making a distinction between indigenous and imported goods, as long as the goods are considered to be important in inter-State trade and commerce. After importation, the goods enter into the domestic stream and the interest of the customer would be adversely affected, if the imported goods were to be taxed at a higher rate, exceeding the rate at which the goods of similar description manufactured in India is subject. The object of the declaration is to promote the interest of the consumer and to ensure the smooth flow of inter- State trade and commerce. 13. The learned counsel for the petitioner states that the Hon'ble Sup ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2003 and batch of cases, on 07.09.2007 , wherein, vires of challenged the Entry 14(vi) of Part D of the First Schedule to the TNGST Act, 1959, Entry 8 Part G of the First Schedule and Entry 9 of Eleventh Schedule respectively prescribing 20% rate of sales tax on the sales of goods imported at Delhi and Mumbai and stock transferred and sold in Chennai were challenged a violative of Articles 14, 301 and 304 of the Constitution of India and therefore void and unenforceable. The Division Bench of this Court upheld the provision with the following observations:- 33. In view of the above law declared by the Supreme Court, we are of the considered view that merely because the GATT agreement recognises the relations in the field of trade and economic endeavour should be conducted with a view to raising standards of living, etc., that will not in any way curtail the State Government to identify the imported goods as separate class and to levy higher rate of sales tax so long as the power of the State Government to levy sales tax even on imported goods is not questioned. Accordingly, point no.(iii) is also answered. 34. For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any merit in the cha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tic precedents, being intended to carry out treaty obligations, and not to be inconsistent with them. (4) In a situation in which India is a signatory nation to an international treaty, and a statute is made to enforce a treaty obligation, and if there be any difference between the language of such statute and a corresponding provision of the treaty, the statutory language should be construed in the same sense as that of the treaty. This is for the reason that in such cases what is sought to be achieved by the international treaty is a uniform international code of law which is to be applied by the courts of all the signatory nations in a manner that leads to the same result in all the signatory nations. 21. In the said decision there is no reference to the decision of the Division Bench of this court in Sony India Ltd and others Vs. CTO (cited supra) though it was stated by the learned counsel for the petitioner. The decision of the Honourable Supreme Court in Jindal Stainless Steel Vs. State of Haryana, 2017 (12) SCC 1 is also of no relevance to the facts of the present case as it was concerned with entry tax. 22. The Division Bench of this court in Sony I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... orted sugar. The Division Bench considered the word imported found in item (viii) of Section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act does not result in the declaration with regard to sugar being confined only to sugar which is produced domestically. The Court had taken note of the fact that sugar falling within the scope of the sub-headings of the Central Excise Tariff Act and referred to in item (viii) of Section 14 of the Central Sales Tax Act would be declared goods, irrespective of the place of their manufacture. The question before the Division Bench was when once the goods are treated as declared goods, whether there could be a further distinction as to the indigenous or imported goods for the purpose of levy of tax. The criteria of distinction for levying higher rate of tax is whether the goods imported from the other country lose its identity as foreign goods or not. In the given case, the goods are television sets, audio systems, handy cameras, handsets of cellular phones, cars, medium density fibre boards, etc., and even after their import, they did not lose their respective identity. However, in the case of sugar, even after the sugar is imported, it is not sold in the ma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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