MEHATA ENTERPRISES Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONERS are registered dealers both under the provisions of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957 (for short, "the KST Act") and Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for short, "the CST Act"). PETITIONERS have questioned the legality of the Government notification dated March 31, 1997 (annexure C to the writ petition) issued under Section 8-A of the KST Act granting exemption in respect of notified items under this notification for a period of one year starting from April 1, 1998 from the tax that was payable under Section 5 of the KST Act.

(2.) A notification of this nature though not one creating any liability and on the other hand being beneficial to the assessees, is nevertheless characterised as an arbitrary one, as one bringing about an invidious classification, discriminating between the business of intra-State and inter-State, in the sense that the petitioners are entitled to exemption of tax under KST Act while it is not so, provided under the CST Act, and therefore the notification is bad.

(3.) SUBMISSION of the learned Additional Government Advocate is that there is nothing wrong in the notification and, in fact, it is a beneficial notification for the benefit of persons like the petitioners and cannot be characterised as bad in law ; that a notification issued under the KST Act cannot come to the benefit of the petitioners for seeking exemption under the provisions of the CST Act.