TATA STEEL LIMITED Vs. STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Under Section 3 of the Bihar Electricity Duty Act, 1948 (hereinafter referred to as the 1948 Act) a duty is levied and paid to the State government on the units or value of electrical energy consumed or sold.

(2.) According to the schedule the duty so payable is 02 paise per unit of energy where energy is consumed for 'industrial purposes' and the duty is 15 paise per unit for energy consumed for 'mining purposes'.

(3.) The petitioner claims that it is liable to pay duty @ 02 paise per unit on the electricity consumed for washing of coal, treating the same to be consumption for 'industrial pupose'. The case of the respondents is that washing of coal is a part of mining process and, therefore electricity consumed for the purposes will be treated to be for 'mining purposes' and duty on the same would be payable @ 15 paise per unit. There are certain other issues involved which will be dealt with later in this order but the issue aforesaid namely whether the electricity consumed for the purpose of washing of coal extracted from the mine should be treated to be part of mining process or should be treated to be outside of mining process and consequently for industrial purpose is the crucial issue.