Nuvoco Vistas Corporation LTD Through Its Authorized Signatory Subhadeep Bhowmik vs. The State Of Jharkhand Through The Secretary Cum Commissioner Commercial Taxes Deptt

Held

The Court held that since the issue involved in the present writ applications had already been dealt with and decided elaborately in its previous judgment dated 28.08.2019, passed in W.P.(T) No. 6048 of 2017 and analogous matters, there was nothing further to decide. The Court reiterated that the Circular dated 11.10.2017, which formed the basis for denying the issuance of Form-'C' to the petitioners for their purchases of high-speed diesel for manufacturing processes, had been quashed in the prior judgment. Consequently, the Court directed the State Government to issue Form-'C' to the petitioners for the purchases of high-speed diesel made by them for their manufacturing processes. The petitioners were also to be governed by the directions and observations made in Paragraphs 27 and 28 of the Court's judgment dated 28.08.2019.

Facts

The petitioners, Nuvoco Vistas Corporation Ltd. and ACC Limited, are engaged in manufacturing and mining activities and are bulk purchasers of high-speed diesel (HSD) for their operations. Their end products are not classified as 'goods' under Section 2(d) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (CST Act), but HSD used in their manufacturing process is. The State of Jharkhand issued a Circular dated 11.10.2017, denying the issuance of Form-'C' for items defined as 'goods' under Section 2(d) of the CST Act, including HSD. This denial was based on the premise that with the introduction of GST from 01.07.2017, dealers dealing in goods other than six excluded items were no longer liable under the Jharkhand Value Added Tax Act (JVAT Act), leading to the automatic termination of their JVAT registration. This led to several writ applications, including the present ones, concerning the denial of Form-'C' for HSD purchases.

Key Issues

1. Whether the Circular dated 11.10.2017 issued by the State of Jharkhand, denying the issuance of Form-'C' for high-speed diesel purchased for manufacturing activities, is valid in light of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime? The petitioners argued that the Circular dated 11.10.2017, which denied them Form-'C' for high-speed diesel, is invalid. They contended that this denial was based on the premise that their JVAT registration had ended with the introduction of GST. However, they pointed out that this very Circular and the underlying reasoning had been addressed and quashed by this Court in a previous judgment dated 28.08.2019 in W.P.(T) No. 6048 of 2017 and analogous matters. Therefore, they submitted that nothing remained to be decided other than directing the State to issue Form-'C' to them, consistent with the previous ruling. The respondents (State of Jharkhand) did not present any arguments against the petitioners' claims, as the issue was stated to have been decided by this Court in a prior judgment.