STATE OF KERALA Vs. V MOHANAN CONTRACTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, State, is aggrieved with the order of the Tribunal at Annexure-C. The entire controversy arose on the introduction of Section 20A to the Kerala Value Added Tax Act, 2003 [for brevity "KVAT Act"] for condonation of delay. Section 20A(1) reads as under:

(2.) The question of law arising from the order of the Tribunal, as re-drafted, is as follows:

(3.) The respondent-assessee is a works contractor, who, for the year 2005-06, did not file an application for compounding. The respondent after the year, filed a return and the scheme of the KVAT Act is such that there is a self assessment under Section 21 subject only to the provisions of Sections 22, 24 and 25. An audit assessment under Section 24 was proceeded with and completed on 15.02008. The order under Section 24 was taken in appeal and the same was remanded to the Assessing Officer. Meanwhile there was an amendment introducing Section 20A dated 21.07.2009 with effect from 01.04.2008. Relying on Section 20A(1) (b) , the assessee filed an application for compounding before the Assessing Officer which was not accepted. The assessee then filed an application under Section 20A(1) (b) before the Deputy Commissioner, for condonation of delay, which was allowed. The Assessing Officer however rejected the application for compounding and reiterated the assessment as per Annexure-A. An appeal was filed before the Deputy Commissioner, which having failed the respondent was before the Tribunal. The Tribunal found that there is delay condonation permitted even for the assessment year 2005-06 by Section 20A(1) (b) and, hence, it was perfectly possible for the assessee to have claimed compounding.