DEPUTY COMMISSIONER Vs. R.S. GRANITES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this writ petition the correctness of the order passed by the Tamil Nadu Taxation Special Tribunal is put in issue. By the impugned order, the Tamil Nadu Taxation Special Tribunal set aside the order passed by the petitioner in his proceedings dated October 29, 2002 non -suiting the first respondent for making an application under Section 5 of the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 2002 and further directed the petitioner to take the application of the first respondent on file and proceed further in accordance with law.

(2.) THE facts which culminated in filing of this writ petition are as follows: The first respondent was a dealer in granite. For the assessment year 1993 -94, the assessing officer passed a revised assessment order disallowing the claim of exemption of export sales to the tune of Rs. 10,22,461. As a result of such revision of assessment, the first respondent has to pay tax of Rs. 81,797, surcharge of Rs. 12,270, additional sales tax of Rs. 337, and penalty of Rs. 1,41,606. The said revisional order has been passed on October 31,1995. The assessee preferred an appeal to the first appellate authority, Appellate Assistant Commissioner in A. P. No. 755 of 1995, who held that in the process of export of granite blocks, there involved no manufacturing activity in polishing the rough stone granite and inasmuch as no new commercial commodity came into existence, the first respondent is entitled to claim exemption. On that reasoning, the appeal was allowed. The Joint Commissioner, Commercial Taxes (suo motu revision) had issued a show cause notice proposing to revise the orders of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, Madurai, calling upon the first respondent to explain as to why the appellate order holding that the assessee was entitled to exemption should not be revised by invoking the suo motu revisional power. The assessee have also filed their objection and the revision is pending consideration before the Joint Commissioner. While that being so, the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as, 'the 2002 Act') came to be enacted and the first respondent/ assessee opted to settle the dispute in terms of the said Act and made an application for settlement under Section 5 of the 2002 Act. The said application was rejected by the petitioner, the designated authority under the Act by his order dated October 29, 2002 to the effect that there was no provision available under the Samadhan Scheme to entertain the application in respect of suo motu revision cases. Questioning the correctness of the order of the petitioner, the assessee -first respondent filed O.P. No. 1089 of 2002 before the Tamil Nadu Taxation Special Tribunal, which by its order dated June 18, 2003 set aside the order of the petitioner dated October 29, 2002 and directed the petitioner to entertain the application.

(3.) SECTION 4 of the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 2002 reads as follows: