1967 (2) TMI 83

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..... assessing authority applied sub-section (2) of section 5 to the case and imposed tax. On appeal, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner took a different view and set aside the assessment. The Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, in exercise of his suo motu powers of revision, has set aside the order of the appellate authority and restored that of the original assessing authority. This appeal is directed against the said order of the Commissioner. 2.. The question turns exclusively on the interpretation of subsection (2) of section 5, because it is common ground that unless the case could be brought within it, the petitioner would be entitled to exemption under sub-section (5). 3.. Sub-section (2) as in force during the relevant period read .....

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..... iberately passed a totally ineffective provision and that although a subject can be taxed only if he comes within the letter of the statute and it is not open to strain the language to get at what may be regarded as the spirit of the statute, if on a fair reading of the relevant provisions of the statute the subject becomes liable or comes within the scope of the charge, there is no way of his escaping the liability. 6.. The question therefore is whether the interpretation of the sub-section by the Commissioner places any strain on the language or may be regarded as a fair way of reading the sub-section. 7.. The foundation for the Commissioner's interpretation is that the clause reading "in respect of which he has furnished a declaratio .....

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..... ation under section 8(4) by the Mysore dealer is made only when he purchases goods from a seller of another State. When the sub-section refers to the provision of the Central Act under which a declaration is to be made, the Government Pleader states, the sub-section must be regarded as taking in by reference the exact circumstances in which the declaration is required to be made by sub-section (4) of section 8 of the Central Act. So understood, he states, no difficulty or absurdity can arise, but that, on the contrary, the difficulty arises only if we attach the clause to the sale, and that it is not logical or possible to attach the clause to the sale because reference to the sale is a necessary statement of the taxable event, viz., the sa .....

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