AJANTA PRINTERS Vs. COMMISSIONER OF SALES TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Board of Revenue, Gwalior, which is the Tribunal constituted under the M. P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958 (hereinafter referred to as "the Sales Tax Act"), has referred the following question to this Court for its opinion under Section 44 (1) read with Section 13 of the M. P. Sthaniya Kshetra Me Mal Ke Pravesh Par Kar Adhiniyam, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as "the Entry Tax Act"):

(2.) THE facts in a nutshell, necessary for answering the aforesaid question, are that an order of assessment was passed in the instant case on 26th April, 1979 under the Entry Tax Act for the period from 1st May, 1976 to 22nd October, 1976. An appeal against that order was preferred by the assessee under Section 15 of the Entry Tax Act which was dismissed on 18th June, 1980. Aggrieved by that order, the assessee preferred a second appeal before the Board of Revenue which was dismissed on 15th April, 1981 on the ground that it was not maintainable inasmuch as no provision for second appeal was in existence with regard to an order of assessment passed for the period in question, namely, 1st May, 1976 to 22nd October, 1976. The Tribunal, however, at the instance of the assessee, referred the aforesaid question to this Court for its opinion.

(3.) HAVING heard Learned Counsel for the parties, we are of the opinion that the view taken by the Tribunal cannot be sustained. It is true that Section 15 of the Entry Tax Act made a provision only for a first appeal against an order of assessment made under the said Act and there was no provision for second appeal. However, the provisions of the Entry Tax Act were amended by the M. P. Sthaniya Kshetra Me Mal Ke Pravesh Par Kar (Sanshodhan) Adhiniyam, 1977 (hereinafter referred to as "the amending Act No. 22 of 1977" ). By Section 9 of the amending Act No. 22 of 1977, Section 13 of the Entry Tax Act was amended, whereby the provisions of Section 38 of the Sales Tax Act were made applicable to the proceedings under the Entry Tax Act. This amendment, as is apparent from Section 1 (2) of the amending Act No. 22 of 1977, came into force with effect from 1st May, 1977. The effect of this amendment was that a right of second appeal, as provided under Sub-section (2) of Section 38 of the Sales Tax Act, was created even under the Entry Tax Act. Since Section 38 of the Sales Tax Act makes a provision for first appeal also, Section 15 of the Entry Tax Act obviously become redundant and was consequently omitted by Section 10 of the amending Act No. 22 of 1977. The effect of this amendment was that even under the Entry Tax Act, a second appeal became maintainble with effect from 1st May, 1977. Even so, as already indicated above, the Tribunal took the view that since the assessment proceedings in the instant case were for the period from 1st May, 1976 to 22nd October, 1976 which fell prior to 1st May, 1977 when the amending Act No. 22 of 1977 came into force, a second appeal was not maintainable. As already indicated earlier, in our opinion, the view taken by the Tribunal is not sustainable.