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TMI Blog2021 (12) TMI 129X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l hearing of this petition, this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to direct the Respondents to forthwith the Respondents to forthwith activate registration certificate of the Petitioners on the online portal under the CST Act and allow the Petitioners to file returns and generate C form declarations under the CST Act for purchase of natural gas for use in manufacture of finished products; D. Ex parte ad interim relief in terms of prayer C may kindly be granted; E. Such further relief(s) as deemed fit in the facts and circumstances of the case may kindly be granted in the interest of justice for which act of kindness your petitioners shall forever pray." 2. The petitioners are before this Court raising an identical question of law which now stands concluded with the decision of the Apex Court rendered in case of The Commissioner of Commercial taxes & ANR vs. The Ramco Cements Ltd as well as with the decision of this Court in case of Gaurav Contracts Company vs. State of Gujarat passed in Special Civil Application Nos.6348 and 5353 of 2019. 2.1 Relevant findings and observations of this Court in case of Gaurav Contracts Company vs. State of Gujarat (supra) are as follow: " ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hall, within such time as may be prescribed for the purpose, make an application for registration under this Act to such authority in the appropriate State as the Central Government may, by general or special order, specify, and every such application shall contain such particulars as may be prescribed. (2) Any dealer liable to pay tax under the sales tax law of the appropriate State, or where there is no such law in force in the appropriate State or any part thereof, any dealer having a place of business in that State or part, as the case may be, may, notwithstanding that he is not liable to pay tax under this Act, apply for registration under this Act to the authority referred to in sub section (1), and every such application shall contain such particulars as may be prescribed. Explanation.-For the purposes of this sub-section, a dealer shall be deemed to be liable to pay tax under the sales tax law at the appropriate State notwithstanding that under such law a sale or purchase made by him is exempt from tax or a refund or rebate of tax is admissible in respect thereof, (3) xxxx (4) A certificate of registration granted under this action may - (a) either on the applic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... under section 7 of the CST Act should be competent enough to exercise the powers vested in it on its own without having to seek guidance from anyone, otherwise it reflects on the lack of competence on the part of such authority in discharging the powers vested in it by the Central Government. Therefore, the submission advanced on behalf of the respondents that the whole objective behind keeping the order of approval in abeyance is to ensure that nothing contrary to the statute is permitted and if need arises, the higher authority may look into the whole issue and resolve the same in accordance with Iaw, flies in the face of the provisions of section 7 of the CST Act, and reflects lack of competence on the part of the concerned officer exercising powers vested in him under section 7 of the CST Act. In the opinion of this court, every officer who is notified as an authority under any enactment, while exercising powers specifically vested in him under such enactment, is required to act independently in the discharge of his duties and cannot refuse to exercise the powers vested in him on the ground of seeking guidance from a higher authority. 10.3 Another aspect of the matter is th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that pursuant to the coming into force of the Goods and Services Tax Acts, the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003 (hereinafter referred to as the "GVAT ACT") came to be amended and by virtue of section 27A of that Act, it was provided that all registered dealers not dealing with goods defined in section 2(13) shall be deemed to be deregistered from the date of coming into force of the Gujarat Value Added Tax (Amendment) Act, 2017 and their registration certificates shall stand cancelled. Thus, the GVAT Act provides for automatic deregistration of dealers not dealing with goods denied in section 2(13) thereof, whereas no such provision providing for automatic deregistration of dealers under the CST Act has been made in the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2017 whereby amendments were made in the Central Sales Tax Act. It is therefore clear that when the legislature wants to provide for automatic cancellation of the registration granted under an enactment, it is expressly provided in such enactment. Since no such provision has been made in the CST Act, no such intention can be read into it and consequently, upon the coming into force of the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 2017 whereby t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... issued by the second respondent are hereby quashed and set aside. Rule is made absolute accordingly, with costs." 2.2 The Apex Court in case of Commissioner of Commercial taxes & ANR vs. The Ramco Cements Ltd (supra) passed the following order: "Heard learned counsel for the parties. at length. We are in agreement with the view taken by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 'Carpo Power Limited vs. State of Haryana & Ors.', which has already been upheld by this Court by dismissing Special Leave Petition (C) No. 20572 of 2018 vide order dated 13th August, 2018. The High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi has also dealt with the same issue in Tata Steel Limited vs. State of Jharkhand' reported in 2019 SCC online Jharkhand 1255. This judgment, in our opinion, is exhaustive and answers all the points urged before us by the petitioner (s) in the instant special leave petitions. It is brought to our notice that nine High. Courts have taken the same view. Even the decision of the High Court of Rajasthan has been affirmed by this Court by dismissal of Special Leave Petition (C) No.27529 of 2019 and connected cases vide order dated 3rd February, 2020. Considering the co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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