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TMI Blog2024 (8) TMI 989X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... od post 2005 under the Maharashtra Value Added Tax Act, 2002 (for short "MVAT") and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (for short, "CST Act"). Even prior thereto, under the regime of the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 and the Central Sales Tax Act, the petitioner held appropriate registration certificates. The case of the petitioner is that Section 8 (1) of the CST Act provides for a concessional rate of duty at 2% for goods described in Section 8 (3). Section 8 (3) provides that the goods being purchased must be used in a particular manner so as to be eligible for the concessional rate under Section 8 (1). It is contended that Section 8 (4) provides that for Section 8 (1) to be applicable, the purchaser must provide a declaration, to the prescribed authority, duly filled and signed by the dealer, to whom the goods are sold. Rule 12 of the Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules, 1957 (for short 'the CST Rules') provides that the declaration and certificate referred to in Section 8 (4) of the CST Act shall be in Form 'C' & 'D' respectively. 4. The case of the petitioner is to the effect that if goods that are being brought and sold and which satisfy the criteria specified in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 017, the usage of the term 'goods' as defined under Section 8 (3) (b) of the CST Act, would have the same meaning as provided under Section 2 (d) of the CST Act. In these circumstances, the petitioner contends that as the registrations under the MVAT and CST Acts stood cancelled, and consequently, the petitioner was not able to login to the online Maharashtra VAT portal using the details of its MVAT and CST registrations. 9. However, subsequent thereto, Trade Circular No.47T of 2017 was issued on 17 November 2017 on the basis of the Office Memorandum dated 7 November 2017 issued by the Ministry of Finance, reiterating the view expressed in the Trade Circular No. 37T, that the term 'goods' in Section 8 (3) (b) of the CST Act would have the same meaning as provided in Section 2 (d) of the Act. However, the subsequent circular provided that the benefits under Section 8 (3) (b) would be available to the dealers who were purchasing goods on inter-State basis but utilized the same in mining, telecommunications network or in the generation/distribution of electricity or any other form of power. Although such modification was made, however, the earlier blanket cancellation of the MVAT/CST ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Respondents themselves, their officers and subordinates to issue C Forms to the Petitioner for the inter-State purchase of natural gas which is consumed by the Petitioner in the manufacture of commodities no longer defined as 'goods' w.e.f. 01.07.2017 in Section 2 (d) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956; (cc2) without prejudice to prayer (cc1) above, that this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a writ of Mandamus or a Writ in the nature of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ or order or direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India ordering and directing the Respondents themselves, their officers and subordinates to issue C Forms to the Petitioner to the extent of the natural gas used in the generation of electricity by the Petitioner;" 12. A reply affidavit is filed opposing the petition of Mr. Dnyaneshwar M. Thorat, as also there is additional affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioner to bring subsequent events on record. 13. It is on such conspectus, we have heard learned Counsel for the parties. 14. At the outset Mr. Sridharan has drawn our attention to a decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case Carpo Power Ltd. vs. State of Haryana 2018( ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd accordingly, their registration under section 7(2) of the CST Act as well, have come to an automatic end, or have become invalid, can be said to be a valid reasoning and be sustained in the eyes of law. We are of the considered view that in view of the law laid down by the honourable apex court in Printers (Mysore) Ltd.'s case [1994] 93 STC 95 (SC) ; (1994) 2 SCC 434, wherein it is clearly held that the use of the expression "goods" referred to in the first half of section 8 (3) (b), i.e., on first three occasions can be understood in the sense it is defined in section 2 (d) of the CST Act, whereas the expression "goods" in the second half of the clause, i.e., on the fourth occasion does not and cannot be understood in the sense it is defined in section 2 (d) of the CST Act, as it refers to the manufactured goods, in the case of the writ petitioners, their end-products need not be "goods" within the meaning of section 2 (d) of the CST Act. We find no merit in the submission of the learned counsel for the State that this meaning has been assigned to the word "goods" appearing in the second half of section 8 (3) (b) of the CST Act, by the apex court in view of the peculiar fac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ourt of Rajasthan was affirmed by the Supreme Court in dismissing a Special Leave Petition. The relevant observations of the Supreme Court read thus: "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 consistent view of nine High Courts, including dismissal of special leave petitions by different Bench of this Court ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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