S S ENTERPRISES Vs. SALES TAX TRIBUNAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner was allegedly carrying on the business of manufacturing plywood board at Gurgaon. It was registered as a dealer under the provisions of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 as well as the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. According to the averments made in the writ petition, the petitioner had been filing sales tax returns regularly till the closure of its business in 1994 on account of heavy losses suffered by it. The registration certificate of the petitioner, therefore, came to be cancelled on January 14, 1998 with effect from January 31, 1997.

(2.) The assessing authority framed an assessment order against the petitioner-firm for the year 1996-97 wherein the petitioner was found liable for payment of Rs. 1,21,000 towards tax. The petitioner impugned the order passed by the assessing authority by filing an appeal before the Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Appeals). Along with the aforesaid appeal, the petitioner preferred an application for stay. The appellate authority by an order dated January 13, 1999 directed the payment of the tax assessed by the assessing authority in six monthly instalments commencing from February, 1999. Dissatisfied with the order passed by the Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Appeals), the petitioner preferred an appeal before the Sales Tax Tribunal, Haryana. The Sales Tax Tribunal, Haryana, remanded the case back to the Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Appeals) on October 15,1999 with a direction to consider the claim of the petitioner on the application of stay filed by it.

(3.) After remand, the Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Appeals) by an order dated January 12, 2000 directed the petitioner to pay the entire amount on or before March 8, 2000. Aggrieved by the order dated January 12, 2000 the petitioner again approached the Sales Tax Tribunal, Haryana, challenging the order dated January 12, 2000. The Sales Tax Tribunal, Haryana, dismissed the instant appeal preferred by the petitioner on June 21, 2000 with liberty to the petitioner to deposit the amount in terms of the order passed by the Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Appeals) within 60 days (from June 21, 2000). The petitioner again approached the Sales Tax Tribunal, Haryana, by filing review petition against the order dated June 21, 2000. During the pendency of the review petition, the appeal preferred by the petitioner before the Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Appeals) was dismissed on account of non-payment of pre-deposit in terms of the order passed by the Sales Tax Tribunal, Haryana. Be that as it may, by an order dated September 10, 2001 the Sales Tax Tribunal, Haryana dismissed the review petition filed by the petitioner. It is in the aforesaid peculiar circumstances that the petitioner has approached this court.