KURIAN ABRAHAM PVT. LTD Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These review petitions are filed invoking Section 41(7)(a) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, for short, the 'Act". The gist of the contentions of the review petitioners, as argued by learned Senior Advocate A K. Jayasankar Nambiar, on their behalf, is that the findings and the consequential conclusions arrived at in paragraph No. 4 of the judgment sought to be reviewed cannot be sustained in view of the fact that no such ground was or could have been raised in these revisions filed by the State. It is pointedly argued that in terms of Section 41(1) of the Act, no revision would lie to the High Court except on the ground that the Appellate Tribunal has either decided erroneously or failed to decide on any question of law. It is, accordingly, argued that the consideration and expressions in paragraph No. 4 of the judgment sought to be reviewed were on questions, which were not even raised before the Tribunal, and therefore, there could not have been a plea by the State, in the revisions, that there was a failure to decide on any question of law.

(2.) Adv. Bobby John, the learned Government Pleader, argued that Section 41(7)(a) provides an application for review only on the basis of discovery of new and important facts, which were not within the knowledge of the applicant or could not be produced by him, when the order was made. He, therefore, says that even if the assertion by the review petitioners is that the High Court had exercised jurisdiction beyond the terms of Section 41(1) of the Act, that is not a ground to entertain a review in view of Section 41(7)(a) of the Act.

(3.) Sections 41(1) and 41(7)(a) of the Act are extracted hereunder: