STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH Vs. TOSHNIWAL COMBINES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CLAUSE (a) of sub-rule (1) of rule 30-A of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Rules says that every manufacturer shall prepare a declaration in from G in triplicate and issue the original and duplicate thereof to the dealer from whom he purchases component part or parts at the concessional rate of tax. Clause (b) says that the selling dealer of the component part or parts "shall send the declaration in original to the assessing authority along with the return prescribed under rule 15 or rule 17, as the case may be".

(2.) THE dealer in this case is the selling dealer of component parts. He did not send the declarations along with the return, but filed them before the assessment order was made. The question in this tax revision case is whether the said declarations can be received or not. We are of the opinion that the requirement in clause (b) of sub-rule (1) of rule 30-A, viz. , that the declaration in original should be filed along with the return, is not mandatory. Inasmuch as these forms have to be issued by the manufacturer, and because the production of such declaration is not within the exclusive control or power of the dealer, it would be more appropriate to construe the said words as not obligatory. We clarify that these forms can be filed at any time before the order of assessment is made. This Court has taken a similar view with respect to C forms, in which case also a similar requirement was provided by the Rules (vide Rajeswari Stone Polishers v. State of A. P. [1983] 52 STC 268 ).