TMI Blog1989 (2) TMI 115X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ), for the appellant in both the appeals. Raja Ram Aggarwal, Senior Advocate (Vijay Hansaria and Sunil K. Jain, Advocates, with him), for the respondent in C.A. No. 533 of 1989. R.C. Mishra and Dr. Meera Aggarwal, Advocates, for the respondent in C.A. No. 532 of 1989. [Judgment per : Sabyasachi Mukharji, J.]. - Special leave granted and these appeals are disposed of by the judgment herein. These appeals are from the judgments and orders of the High Court of Allahabad dated 4th February, 1987 and March 26, 1987 respectively. These involve a common question. The facts of the appeal arising out of Special Leave Petition No. 1293 of 1988 and the facts of the appeal arising out of Special Leave Petition No. 1296 of 1988 are similar. In order to appreciate the contentions raised herein, it would be appropriate to deal with the facts of the appeal arising out of Special Leave Petition No. 1293 of 1988. v The assessee is engaged in repairing and refilling of cotton bowls on the shafts which are used as part of calendering machine in the textile industry. The cotton bowl is a shaft made of steel on which a thick layer of cotton is pasted and affixed. It is used in the textile ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... order already passed, in the case of the applicant, by any authority under this Act or the Tribunal, shall be entertained for determination under this section. (5) A decision given by the Commissioner of Sales Tax under this section, shall, subject to an appeal to the Tribunal, be final. (6) XXX XXX XXX." The question that arises in these appeals before us is the true interpretation of sub-section (5) of Section 35 of the Act, namely, whether a revision shall lie to the High Court from the decision of the Commissioner under Section 35 of the Act which has been the subject-matter of an appeal before the Tribunal. The respondent-dealer moved an application under Section 35 of the Act and the decision was rendered in terms of the said section. The decision, inter alia, included the questions whether the job of repairing and refilling of cotton bowl and the process involved therein amounted to "manufacture" or "sale" within the meaning of the Act. The Commissioner of Sales Tax by his order dated 10th June, 1985 decided both the questions against the assessee. Aggrieved thereby the assessee had preferred an appeal before the Sales Tax Tribunal. The Tribunal by its orde ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the date of the service of the copy of the order or appeal to such authority, as may be prescribed, request the appellate authority in writing for summar, disposal of his appeal. The other consequential provisions of law need not at the present moment be examined in detail. Section 10 provides for Sales Tax Tribunal. The section was substituted at first by Act 12 of 1979 and thereafter by Act 22 of 1984. After the substitution by the Act 12 of 1979 the Act has provided that there shall be a Sales Tax Tribunal consisting of a President and such other members as the State Government may from time to time deem it necessary to appoint from amongst persons who have been, or who are qualified to be judges of the High Court and persons who hold or have held a post not below the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax provided that when the Tribunal consisted of one or more persons who have been judges of a High Court then he or one of them should be appointed the President. Sub-section (5) of Section 10 authorises the Tribunal, as the case may be, to confirm, cancel or vary such order. Sub-section (2) of Section 10 stipulates that any person aggrieved by an order passed by an appellate a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... appointed before or after the commencement of the Uttar Pradesh Sales Tax (Amendment and Validation) Act, 1983, as they apply to any other Government servant: Provided that a member of the Tribunal including the President, appointed before the commencement of the Uttar Pradesh Sales Tax (Amendment and Validation) Act, 1983, may continue as such till he attains the age of sixty years. (2) Any person aggrieved by an order passed by an Appellate Authority under Section 9, other than an order referred to in sub-section (4-A) of that said section, or by the Revising Authority under Section 10-B or by the Commissioner of Sales TAx under sub-section (3) of Section 4-A or by a decision given by the Commissioner of Sales Tax under Section 35 may, within six months from the date of service of the copy of such order or decision on him, prefer an appeal to the Tribunal : Provided that where the disputed amount of tax, fee or penalty does not exceed one thousand rupees, the appellant may, at his option, request the Tribunal in writing for summary disposal of his appeal, whereupon the Tribunal may decide the appeal accordingly. Explanation. - For the purpose of this sub-section, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sputed amount. (8) No order passed under this section for the stay of recovery of tax, fee or penalty shall remain in force for more than thirty days unless the appellant furnishes adequate security to the satisfaction of assessing authority concerned for payment of the outstanding amount. (9) The members of the Tribunal shall sit in such benches of one, two or more members as may be constituted from time to time, and do such work of the Tribunal as may, subject to sub-sec (1) and the rules, be allotted to them by order, or in accordance with the directions of the President of the Tribunal. (10) (a) An appeal against the order of appellate authority under Section 9 shall be heard and disposed of- (i) by a bench of two members, where such order is passed by a Deputy Commissioner (Appeals) or the amount of tax, fee or penalty in dispute exceeds ten thousand rupees; (ii) by a single member in any other case. (b) An appeal against an order passed under Section 10-B shall be heard and disposed of by a bench of two members. (c) An appeal against an order passed under sub-section (3) of Section 4-A or a decision given under Section 35, which shall be filed before the Preside ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ays from the said date." The other sub-sections are not relevant for the present purpose. 5. Section 10-A deals with orders against which no appeal or revision lies and Section 10-B stands for revision by the Commissioner of Sales Tax. Section 11, as mentioned hereinbefore, stands for revision by the High Court and has been amended from time to time. In the aforesaid background the question posed in those appeals will have to be examined in the light of the decision of the High Court. The High Court in its judgment under appeal after analysing the provisions of Section 35 observed that the Commissioner entered into the determination of the disputed question. Sub-clause (2) of Section 35 of the Act, according to the High Court, enjoins on the Commissioner to decide the questions referred to him as he deems fit after giving the applicant an opportunity of being heard. Under sub-clause (5) of Section 35 it has been stated that the decision given by the Commissioner of Sales Tax shall subject to an appeal to the Tribunal, be final. The High Court while examining the section noticed that when an appeal against the order passed under Section 35 of the Act is before the Tribunal, the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... legislature had not made the Commissioner a final arbiter. The Sales Tax Officers or the assessing authority while determining the turnover with a view to assess tax liability acts as a tribunal. Likewise, the appellate authority under Section 9 and the Tribunal under Section 10 of the Act are Tribunals. The Commissioner did not act as a tribunal while dealing with an application under Section 35. The nature of his jurisdiction is administrative according to the High Court. The legislature, according to the High Court, has used the language ''otherwise than in a proceeding pending before a court or before an assessing authority under Section 7 or 21" deliberately with a view to maintain and preserve the sanctity of the judicial proceedings under the Act. The word "final" used in sub-section (5) of Section 35 is only with regard to the proceedings contemplated by that section and the order of the Commissioner would be final. But this will not bar the other authorities under the Act from deciding the controversy before it on its own by looking to the evidence and considering the question of law which comes before it. Therefore, the High Court rejected the submission that the order of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Civil Procedure Code and therefore an appeal to Privy Council was maintainable by the decision of the High Court. Here in the instant case the right of appeal has been given under the Act not to any ordinary court of the country under the Code of Civil Procedure but to the courts enumerated under the Sales Tax Act and the revision is contemplated under the provisions of the Sales Tax Act. 'Final' in the section means that it is final and under the Act subject to the limited procedure contemplated under the Act. The intention of the legislature, in our opinion, in the amended scheme of the Act is clear and manifest and meaningful and the scheme of the Act is to regulate the determination of the question as to the assessability and liability and questions in connection thereto. The observations of Lord Loreburn, L.C. were referred to in South Asia Industries Pvt. Ltd. v. S.B. Sarup Singh (1965) 2 SCR 756, where this Court observed at page 766 of the report that the expression "final prima facie meant that an order passed on appeal under the Act was conclusive and no further appeal lay. A right to revision under the Act is a right given by the Act. In this connection, observations i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er passed under Section 35 is concerned, special treatment has been provided for by the legislature. The Tribunal has come in place of the High Court in hearing the appeal. In such a situation to contemplate when the language of the section envisages that the order of the Commissioner would be final, subject to an appeal to the Tribunal that a further revision lay to the High Court would be unwarranted. As mentioned hereinbefore, we have to find out the intention of the Legislature in such a situation. The intention of the Legislature is a slippery phrase as observed in Aron Salomon v. A. Salomon and Company Ltd., (1897) AC, 22, 38 see also observations in Lord Howard De Walden v. Inland Revenue Commissioners [1948 (2) All England Reports page 825]. In such cases it is better to find out the intention of the legislature from the words used by the natural meaning of the words and the spirit and reason of the law. See Cross on Statutory Interpretation, Second Edition, page 21. 9. Having regard to the scheme manifested from the amendment, that is to say, to make the Commissioner's decision final, subject to an appeal to the Tribunal where the Tribunal is enjoined to hear such an app ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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