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TMI Blog2005 (9) TMI 601X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sary fee by following the provisions for renewal. The petitioner is also very regular in filing its sales tax returns. While that being so, when the petitioner approached the respondent in the first week of July, 2005 seeking for issuance of form H declarations, they were informed that the petitioner's registration certificates were cancelled under both Acts from April 30, 2003 as the petitioner failed to get the certificate renewed as per the provisions of the Act and on that score refused to issue form H declaration to the petitioner. Thereafter, on July 7, 2005 the petitioner applied for renewal of the registration certificates by paying the necessary fees, but the respondent by the impugned proceedings dated July 11, 2005 returned the fees by stating that the last date for payment of fee for renewal of the registration certificates with penalty for the year 2003-04 was April 30, 2003 and since the petitioner did not pay the renewal fee and apply for renewal within the stipulated period the petitioner's request at this point of time could not be considered. The correctness of the said order is now put in issue in this writ petition. 3.. I heard the learned counsel on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n (3) of section 21 reads as follows: The certificate issued under sub-section (2) shall be valid for one year or five years, as the case may be and shall be renewed in such manner and within such period as may be prescribed on payment of the fee specified in sub-section (1). The certificate shall be deemed to have been cancelled unless it has been renewed: Provided that a registered dealer who fails to renew the certificate of registration within the prescribed period shall be permitted to renew the certificate before a further period, as may be prescribed, on payment of renewal fee and also a penalty equal to renewal fee. 9.. The relevant rule for renewal is rule 24(9) and 24(9-A). Rule 24(9) reads as follows: Every registered dealer shall, until his registration is cancelled, submit an application in form D and pay the fee as specified in subsection (1) of section 21 of the Act for every year subsequent to that in which he applied for registration, during the month of March of the financial year for which the registration is valid and in addition a further fee as in sub-section (1) of section 21 in respect of each of his place of business other than the principal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 003-2004 and 2004-2005 till an application was made on July 7, 2005, that is well beyond the time prescribed by the statute. 14.. As per section 21(3) the certificate issued under subsection (2) is valid for one year which is also re-produced under clause 4 of the form D-1 certificate issued to the petitioner. The section further provides that the certificate shall be deemed to have been cancelled unless it is renewed as provided in the Act. 15.. In view of the above said statutory provision and on the admitted fact, that after March 31, 2003 the registration certificate of the petitioner has not been renewed as provided in the abovesaid statutory provisions the order impugned cannot be found fault. 16.. Now let me consider the decisions relied on. First let me consider the division Bench judgment relied on by the learned Judge the Sun Gas Pvt. Ltd. v. Registrar, Tamil Nadu Taxation Special Tribunal [2002] 125 STC 496 (Mad.). That was the case considered prior to amendment of the provisions in the year 2002. However, the observation made in that rule is very clear, which are as follows: (1) That the view of the Tribunal that no personal hearing is required when a certif ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cate issued on March 27, 1998 was valid until it was cancelled. 19.. On that special fact of the case, the division Bench concluded that the Revenue when it commits errors of this nature which leads to the deprivation of a right in the assessee to seek renewal in time by misleading him about the need for such renewal must at the minimum put him on notice about the correct state of the law and give him an opportunity to seek renewal. The abrupt cancellation as done in that case was wholly impermissible. 20.. The division Bench further gave a note of caution to make it clear that the relief granted to the assessee in that case was purely on account of the misleading form, which the Revenue chose to use to grant the certificate of registration. 21.. In the case on hand no such special feature is available. The certificate issued to the petitioner, which is annexed in page 3 of the typed set of papers makes it clear that the certificate was valid from June 23, 1999 to March 31, 2000 and is renewable from year to year on payment of prescribed fee. The assessee understood the same correctly and got the renewal for the subsequent assessment year of 2000-01 and 2001-02 by compl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... obtained and the extended period within which the renewal of registration certificate can be obtained on payment of penalty has not been taken for consideration. 26.. As the petitioner has very much relied on the above decisions and argued that this Court has to follow the same as ratio decidendi in the absence of any other decision taking a contrary view, this Court is constrained to give the reason for not accepting for the course argued for by the petitioner. An order rendered without reference to the statutory provision cannot be considered as a ratio decidendi binding on the court. In the latest judgment of the Supreme Court in Islamic Academy of Education v. State of Karnataka (2003) 6 SCC 697 para 146, the larger Bench of the Supreme Court has ruled that the court cannot read some sentences from here and there to find out the intent and purport of the decision by not only considering what has been said therein but the text and context in which it was said. For the said purpose the court may also consider the Constitutional or relevant statutory provisions visa-vis its earlier decisions on which reliance has been placed. 27.. In Furest Day Lawson Ltd. v. Jindal Exports ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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