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TMI Blog2020 (10) TMI 1059X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al by the impugned order set aside the order of the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Sambalpur Range, Sambalpur, dated 30.11.2000 passed in Sales Tax Appeal No.AA.44 (SAIII) of 1999-2000, allowing the appeal and raising the demand of additional tax against the petitioner in the assessment under Section 12(4) of the Orissa Sales Tax Act (for short, "the Act") for the year 1996-97, and thereby allowed the appeal preferred by the State of Orissa-opposite parties and restored the assessment of the petitioner for the said year. 2. The question, which was considered by the Tribunal, was whether exemption from taxation granted to sale of firewood can be extended to sale of firewood to be used as raw material for manufacturing of paper. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e orders of M/s. Oriental Paper Mill, indicating the specifications of the firewood, which M/s. Oriental Paper Mill required from the respondent and also indicating that wood of such specification was meant to be used as raw material for manufacturing of paper, has given its finding in Paras-6 to 8 of the impugned order, which being most relevant to the case, are reproduced hereunder:- "6. There is absolutely no dispute that firewood sold by the respondent to M/s Oriental Paper Mill, Brajrajnagar was used as raw material for manufacture of paper. In this connection, the learned assessing officer also made reference to the registration certificate as well as the purchase orders of M/s Oriental Paper Mill. Paragraph 2 & 3 of the grounds of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssue of the sale of firewood in the State of Tamil Nadu where the notification issued under Section 17 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 exempted sale of firewood from sales tax. The question in that case was whether the timber supplied for manufacturing of pulp cannot come within the scope of the exemption granted by the Government. The High Court following its earlier decision in A.H.K. and Company v. State of Tamil Nadu [1980] 46 STC 117 (Mad.) concluded that even though the parties in the agreement described the wood as firewood, but the supply of wood was for making pulp. The agreement clearly indicated that neither of the two parties intended that the timber should be used as firewood. The High court therefore held that su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of tax. It is trite that an exemption notification has to be construed strictly. A person claiming exemption provision to relieve him of tax liability must explain clearly that he is covered by the relevant provision. Unlike ordinary taxing statute, in the event of ambiguity, an exemption clause or provision has to be construed in favour of revenue. We may in this connection usefully refer to the following observations of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in para 62 and 66 of the report in Commissioner of Customs (Import), Mumbai vs. Dilip Kumar & Company & ors, (2018)9 SCC 1. "62. The ratio in Mangalore Chemicals case was approved by a three Judge Bench in Novopan India Ltd. v. CCE. In this case, probably for the first time, th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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