Gujarat High Court
State Of Gujarat vs Staunch Natural Resources Pvt. Ltd. on 5 May, 2018
Author: Akil Kureshi
Bench: Akil Kureshi, B.N. Karia
C/TAXAP/492/2018 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/TAX APPEAL NO. 492 of 2018
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STATE OF GUJARAT
Versus
STAUNCH NATURAL RESOURCES PVT. LTD.
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Appearance:
MS SHRUTI PATHAK, AGP, GOVERNMENT PLEADER(1) for the
PETITIONER(s) No. 1
MS VAIBHAVI K PARIKH(3238) for the RESPONDENT(s) No. 1
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE B.N. KARIA
Date : 05/05/2018
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI)
1. This appeal is filed by the State Government challenging the judgment of the Value Added Tax Tribunal.
2. Taking us through the judgment of the Tribunal, learned AGP submitted that the appeal filed by the assessee before the Tribunal arose out of the order of the first appellate authority dismissing the appeal for not complying with the predeposit condition. In such proceedings, the Tribunal decided the question of validity of the penalty imposed by the Assessing Officer, which was not permissible to the Tribunal. She Page 1 of 2 C/TAXAP/492/2018 ORDER submitted that despite such law having been settled by this Court, the Tribunal referred to the decision of the Division Bench of this Court in case of State of Gujarat v. Atlas Pharmachem Industries (P) Ltd. and proceeded to decide the issue on the ground that the question was squarely covered by the judgment of the High Court. Counsel further submitted that this view of the Tribunal is not correct. The judgment of the High Court relied upon by the Tribunal in case of State of Gujarat v. Jay Steel and Tubes Traders was distinguishable. The Tribunal had referred to various other judgments before concluding the issue clearly indicating that the entire question was debatable. In such a situation, the Tribunal could not have bypassed the question of predeposit.
3. Issue Notice for final disposal, returnable on 09.07.2018.
(AKIL KURESHI, J) (B.N. KARIA, J) PRAVIN KARUNAN Page 2 of 2