EICHER LIMITED Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a public limited company, has filed the present writ application for quashing the circular dated 15-1-2002, issued by the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (respondent No. 2) holding that the Tractor comes under the definition of the motor vehicle as defined under Section 2(g) of the Bihar Tax on Entry of Goods into Local Areas for Consumption, Use or Sale therein Act, 1993 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') and, is, thus, liable to pay entry tax. It has also challenged the order of the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Patliputra Circle, Patna (respondent No. 3) asking the petitioner to pay entry tax on the Tractor under the provisions of the said Act. Copies of the said circular and order have been appended as Annexures 2 and 3, respectively, to the writ application.

(2.) The petitioner's case is that its Head Office is at Faridabad in the State of Haryana and has Branches in various States including the State of Bihar and in Patna it is engaged in business of sale of Tractor, Motor Cycle etc. It is registered under the Bihar Sales Tax Act and Central Sales Tax Act and has been paying taxes under the aforesaid Acts. It is importing Tractor from the Head Officer in the State of Bihar and selling the same through its distributors mainly to the Agriculturists within the State of Bihar and outside the State of Bihar. The Tractor is not a motor vehicle which is one of the scheduled goods and as such it is not liable to pay entry tax under the Act.

(3.) The stand of the respondent-State is that the Tractor is a Motor Vehicle as defined under the Act and the Motor Vehicle is one of the scheduled goods chargeable to tax under the Act. Accordingly, the petitioner is liable to pay tax on the Tractor in accordance with the charging Section 3 of the Act. The Motor Vehicle has been defined under Section 2 (g) of the Act, which means Motor Vehicles as defined in Clause (28) of Section 2 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988. The Tractor is included within the aforesaid definition. This apart, the Tractor has also been defined under Section 2(44) of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which says that the Tractor is a Motor Vehicle. Thus, the petitioner cannot escape liability from the payment of tax under the Act on the ground that the Tractor is not a Motor Vehicle.