ASSISTANT COMMERCIAL TAXES OFFICER Vs. MAKRANA MARBLES MAKRANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a petition under sec. 15 (2) (b) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 (No. XXIX of 1954) (for short 'the Act') read with sec. 9 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to 'the Central Sales Tax Act') for directing the Board of Revenue for Rajasthan (in short 'the Board') to state the case and refer the question of law arising out of its order dated October 25, 1978, passed in Special Appeal, which it refused to do by its order dated April 20, 1979. The question proposed by the A. C. T. O. is as under:- "whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Board of Revenue was justified in setting aside the penalty imposed under sec. 10a of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, although the goods imported on the strength of 'c forms for the purpose of use in manufacture was utilized in job-work. " Learned counsel for the parties are in agreement that in view of the provisions contained in sec. 13 (10) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1984 which has come into force from May 1, 1985, the petition by the A. C. T. O is to be treated as a revision against the impugned orders of the Board and has to be disposed of as revision in accordance with S. 15 of the Act, as substituted by the aforesaid Amendment Act, 1984.

(2.) NON-petitioner No. l (M/s. Makrana Marble and Stone Co. Makrana, District Nagaur) is the dealer assee (partnership firm) and carries on business of processing marble stones belonging to their customers. It purchased and imported into Rajasthan diesel and mobil oil costing Rs. 27,750/- in the course of inter-state trade by paying central sales tax at the concessional rate by furnishing declaration in 'c forms. The diesel and mobil oil were utilized in processing marble stones, which belonged to other persons on job work basis. The consessional rate of central sales tax was allowed, under sec. 8 (l) (b) read with sec. 8 (3) (b) of the Central Sales Tax Act, because the assessee had furnished declaration for oil used by him in the manufacture or processing of the goods for sale. The A. C. T. O. imposed a penally of Rs. 1600/- under sec. 10a (1) read with sec. 10 (d) of the Central Sales Tax Act, by his order dated October 6, 1967 on the ground that oil purchased by it was utilized in processing the goods belonging to others and were not in fact to be sold by it, but in fact were redelivered to its customers, who were the real owners of the marble stones processed by it on the basis of the job-work. The dealer-assessee went in appeal and the Deputy Commissioner (Appeals), Jodhpur, vide his order dated October 30, 1967, dismissed the appeal. He held that as the oil imported by the dealer assessee was utilised in processing the marble stones, which were not sold by it, the imposition of penalty was justified. The dealer-assessee filed a revision before the Board of Revenue. A Single Bench of the Board accepted the revision by its order dated December 27,1977. It resulted in the deletion of the penalty, imposed on the dealer-assessee, The A C. T. O. filed a special appeal before the Division Bench of the Board, which was dismissed by its order dated October 25, 1978. On behalf of the petitioner (A. C. T. O. ). reliance was paced on C. I. Cotton Mfg. Co. Ltd. vs. the Assessing Authority (l) the dealer-aseessee relied on Navsari Cotton Silk Mill Ltd. Vs. State of Gujarat (2) and Empire Dyeing and Mfg. Com. Ltd. vs. State of Maharashtra (3), and according to it, the oil imported by the assessee was utilized by it in processing the marble stones.

(3.) THE Board of Revenue, in its order dated October 25, 1978 passed in special appeal in our opinion, was right and justified in coming to the conclusion that the penalty was not imposable under sec. 10-A of the Central Sales Tax Act on the ground that the goods were imported on the strength of 'c' form.