Southern Agrifurane Industries (P) Ltd v. The Commissioner Of Commercial Taxes And Sgst,

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED : 30.08.2024

CORAM

THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE C.SARAVANAN Southern Agrifurane Industries (P) Ltd., Represented by Vice President (Finance) D R Augustine Paulraj, MGM Centre, No.1, 9th Street, Dr.Radhakrishnan Salai, Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004.

... Petitioner Vs.

1. The Commissioner of Commercial Taxes & SGST, Ezhilagam, Chepauk, Chennai - 600 005.

2. The Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Villupuram - I, No.27/11 V.O.C.Street, Viluppuram - 605 602.

... Respondents Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of Constitution of India, for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus to direct the 1st Respondent department to issue Form "C" declaration under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, to the Petitioner herein for their purchases of Extra Neutral Alcohol effected from outside the State of Tamil Nadu.

For Petitioner : Mr.Joseph Prabakar Page No. 1 of 6

For Respondents : Mr.V.Prashanth Kiran Government Advocate

ORDER

This Writ Petition has been filed for a Mandamus to direct the 1st Respondent department to issue Form "C" declaration under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, to the Petitioner herein for their purchases of Extra Neutral Alcohol effected from outside the State of Tamil Nadu.

2. During the pendency of the present Writ Petition, the Petitioner has also filed W.P.No.24968 of 2022 for the following relief:- "This Writ Petition has been filed for issuance of Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus to call for the records in Letter No.PP1/13136/2020, dated 30.03.2022 issued by the 1st respondent and to quash the same as arbitrary and illegal and further to direct the 1st respondent to allow the Petitioner to issue/generate the 1st respondent to allow the Petitioner to generate Form "C" declaration under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 for their purchase of Extra Neutral Alcohol effected from outside the State of Tamil Nadu"

3. In the said Writ Petition, the Petitioner has challenged the Order dated 30.03.2022 bearing Letter No.PP1/13136/2020 passed by the Additional Chief Secretary to the Commissioner of Commercial Tax, the 1st Respondent therein.

4. The said Writ Petition was disposed of by this Court by a detailed Page No. 2 of 6

Order dated 18.10.2023. Operative portion of the said Order reads as under:- "7. In such view of the matter, the product supplier of ENA have been following the Central Sales Tax Act and have paid the tax accordingly. In the present case, the petitioner's supplier also paid the tax under the GST Act and their assessment have been pending for the reason that they have not furnished Form 'C' by the petitioner due to the reason that the respondents have blocked the portal. As contended by the learned Additional Advocate General, the fact remains that no decision has been taken by the GST Council with regard to whether ENA has to be included in the CST regime or excluded. All the States have been consistently following CST and taxes also been paid accordingly.

8. In view of the fact that in the recent 52nd GST Council Meeting held on 07.10.2023, a decision was taken to keep the ENA used for manufacture of alcoholic liquor for human consumption to keep the same outside the purview of GST, this Court is of the considered view that it would be appropriate to direct the respondents to issue Form 'C' from 01.07.2017 to till date for all the purchases made by the Petitioner from outside the State or inside the State and further, this Court also directs the respondent to keep open the web portal for the ENA commodity, so that the Petitioner can upload the purchases of ENA alongwith 'C' Form etc.

It is made clear that the State shall issue Form 'C' for the purchases made from the other sates until the Law Committee issues suitable amendment in law to exclude ENA for use in manufacture of alcoholic liquors for human consumption from the ambit of GST, as per the decision taken in the 52nd GST Council Meeting held on 07.10.2023. Further, in the event of the web portal is not opened, the petitioner is directed to file relevant forms/applications manually in which case, the respondents are directed to consider the same and issue the Form 'C'.

Page No. 3 of 6

9. With the above observation, this writ petition is disposed of. No costs. Consequently, the connected Miscellaneous Petition is closed."

5. In view of the above, nothing further survives except to direct the Respondents to comply with the directions of the Court in W.P.No.24968 of 2022 dated 18.10.2023

6. Writ Petition stands disposed of with the above observations and directions. No cost.

30.08.2024 Index : Yes/No Speaking/Non-speaking Order rgm To

1. The Commissioner of Commercial Taxes & SGST, Ezhilagam, Chepauk, Chennai - 600 005.

Page No. 4 of 6

2. The Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Villupuram - I, No.27/11 V.O.C.Street, Viluppuram - 605 602.

C.SARAVANAN, J.

rgm Page No. 5 of 6

30.08.2024 Page No. 6 of 6