RELIANCE GENERATORS PVT LTD Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN both these writ appeals, appellant is same. He is the petitioner in the original petitions. W. A. No. 1501 of 2002 is filed against the judgment in O. P. No. 38164 of 2001, while W. A. No. 1503 of 2002 is filed against the judgment in O. P. No. 37942 of 2001. The prayer in O. P. No. 38164 of 2001 is to issue a writ of mandamus directing the fifth, sixth and seventh respondents to issue the forms as prescribed under sub-clause (4) of clause 1 read with Schedule V annexed to the Notification in S. R. O. No. 1728/93 to the petitioner for the works executed by them during the periods 1995-96 and 1996-97 for them to claim reduced rate of tax at 4 per cent. The facts of the case are as follows :

(2.) THE petitioner was awarded contract for supplying, installing, testing and commissioning of diesel generator sets to various telephone exchanges of Department of Telecom, Kerala, which are within the administrative control of third to seventh respondents. THE petitioner has been fulfilling the contracts as per the award for the past more than a decade. THE petitioner has been reporting the turn-overs to the first respondent regularly for each assessment year. THE petitioner registered itself under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 (hereinafter referred to as "the KGST Act" ). THE transaction between the petitioner and the fifth, sixth and seventh respondents under the above contracts is an inter-State transaction, as the materials were moved from outside the State of Kerala for the purpose of fulfilling the contract.

(3.) THE first respondent issued notice of assessment to the Executive Engineers for other divisions and the seventh respondent directing them to withhold payments to the petitioner and to pay over any amount due by them to the petitioner, to first respondent. Accordingly, they also withheld the disbursement of payments due on the works executed by the petitioner. THE said notice has been issued by the first respondent because of two reasons : (a) A certificate in proper form from the fifth, sixth and seventh respondents that the petitioner supplied goods to them, who are Government departments, was not produced; (b) the first respondent has not given credit to the tax deductible by the fifth, sixth and seventh respondents, being awarders of the contract under section 7 (7b) of the KGST Act.