OSWAL AGRO MILLS LTD Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner-assessee filed an application under section 22 (1) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 with a prayer to the Sales Tax Tribunal for making reference of the questions of law formulated therein to this Court for opinion. The Tribunal vide its order dated January 25, 1994 rejected the application holding that the questions raised by the petitioner was not the substantive questions of law requiring reference to this Court. It was further held that the question regarding rate of tax i. e. , 6 per cent or 4 per cent and taxing the purchase value of rice bran did not arise out of the order of the Tribunal. The other three questions sought to be referred related to the remand proceedings which could not be termed to be questions of law for the purposes of making a reference to the court. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has drawn however our attention to the grounds of appeal filed by the petitioner wherein the petitioner had raised a specific plea regarding the tax liability and the rate of tax.

(2.) THE Supreme Court in Commissioner of Income-tax v. Scindia Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. [1961] 42 ITR 589 has held, "that when a question of law is raised before the Tribunal but the Tribunal fails to deal with it, it must be deemed to have been dealt with by it, and is, therefore, one arising out of this order".

(3.) IN our opinion, the Tribunal was not justified in rejecting the application of the petitioner as a whole and was under an obligation to make a reference to this Court of the questions of law specifically raised in its application numbering (b), (d) and (e ). Accordingly, this application is allowed with a direction to the Tribunal to make a reference of the following questions of law :