VICTORY VENEERS PVT LTD Vs. STATE OF NAGALAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Constitutional validity of the Nagaland Purchase Tax Act, 1993 is assailed in this batch of writ petitions.

(2.) For deciding these cases, I shall confine only to the facts referred to in Civil Rule Nos. 3562/93. Since the facts in the other Civil Rules are of similar nature, all these cases are taken up for hearing together.

(3.) The Petitioners Company purchase timber in log form from different owners of forests as well as persons who operates such forests in the State of Nagaland. The Petitioners claimed themselves as intermediary purchasers of timbers mainly in the log and no felling operations are carried out by the Petitioners. From the logs purchased by the Petitioners as intermediary purchasers, sawn timber is obtained by sawing the logs in the Mill/ Factory owned by the Petitioners. A part of the unconverted timber purchased is also converted to veneer which is the basic raw materials for manufacturer of Plywood. In the factory of the Petitioners plywood and allied timber products are also manufactured.