TMI Blog2019 (11) TMI 1427X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rit, is required to be rejected and is rejected - petition dismissed. - W.P.(C) No.9209 OF 2006 - - - Dated:- 13-11-2019 - Chief Justice Shri K.S. Jhaveri And Shri Justice K.R. Mohapatra For the Petitioner : Mr. Bijoy Kumar Mahanti, Senior Advocate M/s. B.K. Sharma, R.K. Sahu A.K. Mohapatra For the Opp. Parties : Mr. D. Behura, Standing Counsel (C.T.) ORDER K.S. JHAVERI, C.J. By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the order dated 26.05.2006 under Annexure-9 and the consequential notice dated 03.07.2006 under Annexure-10 issued by the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax, Cuttack II Range, Cuttack-opposite party No.2 under Rule 16 of the Central Sales Tax (Orissa) Rules, 1957 and prays for a direction to the opposite parties to refund ₹ 15,00,000/-. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that in view of the White Paper on State-Level Value Added Tax issued by the Government of Orissa at Annexure-12, the State Government assured the industries that payment of Orissa Value Added Tax will be given set off for which he has relied upon Section 21 of the VAT Act which came into force with effect from 01.04.2005 and has ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion is the coming into force of the Haryana Municipal (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Haryana Act 15 of 1994) viz. 4-10-1994, the date of publication of the Amendment Act in the Government Gazette and not 5-4- 1994, the date of coming into force of the Haryana Municipal (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Haryana Act 3 of 1994). The High Court was of the view that the disqualification will operate after 5-4-1995 - on the expiry of the period of one year from 5-4-1994, the date of coming into force of Amendment Act 3 of 1994. Per contra, the claim of the appellant was that the disqualification will be attracted only after 4-10-1995, the expiry of one year from the date of coming into force of Amendment Act 15 of 1994. 7. On a careful consideration of the relevant statutory provisions and the submissions of the learned counsel on either side, we are of the view that the High Court could not be said to have erred in the construction adopted, which not only accords with the intention of the legislature but avoids uncertainty and friction as well repugnance, which otherwise would result in accepting the stand of the appellant. The main part of clause ( c ) of sub-section (1) of Section 13-A in unmist ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in the case of Zile Singh v. State of Haryana and others , reported in (2004) 8 SCC 1 paragraphs 14, 15 and 16 of which read as under: 14. The presumption against retrospective operation is not applicable to declaratory statutes . In determining, therefore, the nature of the Act, regard must be had to the substance rather than to the form. If a new Act is to explain an earlier Act, it would be without object unless construed retrospectively. An explanatory Act is generally passed to supply an obvious omission or to clear up doubts as to the meaning of the previous Act. It is well settled that if a statute is curative or merely declaratory of the previous law retrospective operation is generally intended . An amending Act may be purely declaratory to clear a meaning of a provision of the principal Act which was already implicit. A clarificatory amendment of this nature will have retrospective effect ( ibid ., pp. 468-69). 15. Though retrospectivity is not to be presumed and rather there is presumption against retrospectivity, according to Craies ( Statute Law , 7th Edn.), it is open for the legislature to enact laws having retrospective operation. This can be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d in (2005) 7 SCC 396, paragraphs 16, 17, 22, 31 and 34 of which read as under: 16. By reason of the aforementioned amendment no substantive right has been taken away nor any penal consequence has been imposed. Only an obvious mistake was sought to be removed thereby. 17. There cannot furthermore be any doubt whatsoever that when a person is held to be eligible to obtain the benefits of an exemption notification, the same should be liberally construed. 22. Had the intention of the Government of India been only to extend the said benefit only to the exporters from any other seaport, airport or inland container depot, recourse to the proviso appended to sub-clause ( iv ) of clause (2) of the notification dated 7-4-1997 could have been taken. But by reason of the notification dated 27-11-1997, one seaport and six inland container depots have been added. The last two words in the category of seaport, namely, Tuticorin and Vishakhapatnam had been substituted by the words Tuticorin, Vishakhapatnam and Kakinada . Similarly the last two words, namely, Ludhiana and Hyderabad in the category of inland container depot had been substituted by the words Ludhiana, Hyder ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to the age of 65 years or till the time they complete five years tenure before they have attained the age of 65 years. The submission which are paraphrased by the petitioners in support of their aforesaid plea are the following: (a) By the Amendment Act, new Section 6 stands substituted with the old Section 6. The legislature has used the expression substituted with a definite purpose, namely, making this provision applicable also to those Presiding Officers who were holding the post as on September 1, 2016 when the amendment was brought into force. It was argued that the very expression substituted would mean that the old Section 6 stands obliterated. (b) Purpose behind the amendment was to reduce the burden of pendency by enhancing the age of the Presiding Officers. This is categorically mentioned in the report of the Lok Sabha, Joint Committee and also in the Statement of Objects and Reasons to the amendment. (c) The provision needs to be given purposive interpretation and keeping in view the purpose and object behind the amendment, the said purpose would be sub-served only if it is applied to the incumbents in the service as well as on the date of the applicat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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