STATE OF KERALA Vs. MALABAR CEMENTS LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Revenue is before us in this revision petition filed under Section 41 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 being aggrieved by the orders passed by the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, Additional Bench, Palakkad in T.A. No. 10 of 2006 dated March 30, 2006. By the impugned order, the Tribunal has cancelled the orders passed by the first appellate authority in Section T.A. No. 6469 of 2005 dated November 24, 2005.

(2.) The respondent in this revision petition is a Government company and is engaged in the manufacture and sale of cement. The assessee-company has several cement manufacturing units including one at Cherthala. It is only in their unit cement is manufactured using "fly ash" as basic raw material. The unit had started its commercial production with effect from May 7, 2003 and marketed the cement so produced under the label "Portland Pozzoloria" cement. The unit had charged sales tax in the invoices raised and had collected the same from its consumers and remitted the tax so collected along with the monthly returns submitted till the end of July 2004.

(3.) The assessee-company, in so far as its Cherthala unit is concerned, had applied for grant of exemption from payment of sales tax under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 ("the Act", for short). The competent authority had issued the exemption certificate on August 9, 2004, granting exemption from payment of sales tax with effect from August 7, 2003. Till then and thereafter the assessee for a further period of 21 days had collected sales tax on its sales of cement from its Cherthala unit.