INDUSTRIAL CABLES INDIA LIMITED Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE facts briefly are that the petitioner is a company at Rajpura, district Patiala with its branches at various places in other States of India. It manufactured high class cables, which it partly sold and partly transferred to its branches for sale of the value of Rs. 9,10,31,510. The Assessing Authority, respondent No. 2, vide order dated October 19, 1987, assessed the tax on purchases under section 4-B of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, at Rs. 71,974 and also charged interest of Rs. 23,466 and penalty of Rs. 15,000 for late deposit of tax. The petitioner filed appeal against the imposition of interest and penalty. The appellate authority sustained the penalty to the tune of Rs. 10,000 vide order dated December 27, 1989, annexure P2. In the meantime the Supreme Court struck down the provisions of Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973, as ultra vires the State Legislature, in Goodyear India Ltd. v. State of Haryana [1990] 76 STC 71. Thereafter, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition under articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India. The case of the petitioner-company is that the provisions of section 4-B of the Act are in pari materia with the provisions of section 9 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act which were struck down in Goodyear India's case [1990] 76 STC 71 (SC ).

(2.) ON the other hand the stand of the respondent-State is that the provisions of section 4-B of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act are not in pari materia with the provisions of section 9 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act. It was further contended that the provisions of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act were similar to the provisions of section 7-A of the Madras General Sales Tax Act which were upheld by the Supreme Court in State of Tamil Nadu v. Kandaswami [1975] 36 STC 191. Arguments were heard in this case on January 23, 1991 and the order was reserved. In the meantime, a somewhat similar question of law arose before the Supreme Court in Mukerian Papers Ltd. v. State of Punjab [1991] 81 STC 152; (1991) 1 JT 165 and it was held as under :