9911796707
TMI Blog1993 (7) TMI 318X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... L 41-547915. The seizure was made on April 5, 1992, at Chichira check-post in the district of Midnapur on the ground that the importation was done in contravention of section 6 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954. The present application is also directed against the penalty order dated April 16, 1992, imposing a penalty of Rs. 20,000 under section 7(2) of the 1954 Act. The case of the applicant in brief is that the vehicle was purchased from Lexicon Auto Pvt. Ltd. of Bilashpur in M.P. under bill dated March 31, 1992, with the aforesaid temporary motor vehicle registration and was being brought to Calcutta address of the applicant. One of the terms of the purchase was that free servicing could be available from the sellers' service stat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... itself be an applicant under section 8 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987. Its partners ought to have joined as parties. The person who signed the affidavit and the application, namely, Satya Narayan Chatterjee, is not supported by any evidence regarding authorisation. The application is also not maintainable because alternative remedies available under the statute were not resorted to. It may be mentioned that the present application was admitted by an order of this Tribunal dated January 28, 1993. At that time, the point of limitation was taken by the learned State Representative. That question was examined and decided in favour of the applicant. It was also stated in the order of January 28, 1993, that the application was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the 1987 Act, Mr. Chakraborty had relied on the provisions of the Bengal General Clauses Act, 1899 and the decision reported in [1962] 44 ITR 739 (SC); AIR 1962 SC 970 (Commissioner of Income-tax v. S.V. Angidi Chettiar). According to him, the applicant-firm is a person. But Mr. Majumdar stated that under the taxation laws of the State a partnership firm is not a dealer, but only its partners are regarded as a dealer. After considering the rival contentions of the parties, we are of the opinion that the applicant-firm is a "person" under section 8 of the 1987 Act and is, therefore, entitled to make the application. It is duly signed and affirmed in terms of rule 5(f) and (g) read with regulation 12, mentioned earlier. As regards altern ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ertificate was not to be found at Siliguri, could not be sufficient ground for the conclusion that the sale transaction in favour of the applicant-firm was mala fide, particularly because the same temporary registration certificate also contained the Calcutta address of the applicant-firm. A few days after the order for penalty was passed, the impugned vehicle was permanently registered in the name of the applicant. In that view of the matter, we are not satisfied that there was any contravention of section 6 of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954 or there was any cause for imposing penalty under section 7(2) of the same Act. We are told that the entire penalty of Rs. 20,000 was deposited with the Commercial Tax Officer, Chichira check-po ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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