IBRAHIM N. Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revision petition is filed by an assessee registered both under the provisions of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 ("the KGST Act and the CST Act", for short), being aggrieved by the orders passed by the Kerala Agricultural Income-tax and Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, Additional Bench, Palakkad in T.A. No. 388/2003 dated June 30, 2003. The Tribunal has rejected the assessee's appeal.

(2.) The assessee has framed the following questions of law for our consideration and decision. They are as under:

(3.) In order to answer the questions of law framed by the assessee, the facts in brief requires to be noticed. They are as under: The petitioner is a dealer in river sand. He has registered himself as a dealer both under the provisions of the KGST Act and the CST Act. The assessment year in question is 1998-99 (CST). In the returns filed, the assessee had claimed exemption from payment of tax under the Central Sales Tax Act, in view of entry 7k of the Third Schedule to the Notification S.R.O. No. 1727 of 1993 as modified by S.R.O. No. 213 of 1997. The claim of the assessee is rejected by the assessing authority on the ground, that, the exemption that is granted under entry 7A of the Third Schedule to the notification is conditional exemption and therefore, the assessee is entitled for exemption only under the provisions of the KGST Act and not for the transactions under the provisions of the CST Act. This view of the assessing authority is accepted by the first appellate authority and the Tribunal. The Tribunal, while deciding the appeal, at paragraph 3 of its order has stated as under: