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wined, for the purpose of this case in hand, with the Section 14 and Section 15 of the CST Act and Section 50 and Section 52 of the AVAT Act. It would, therefore, be apt to trace the litigation history on the issue and the decisions rendered thereon, at this juncture, before any deliberation on the impugned Order.

[iii] Coke in all its forms; Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] and Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] :-

32. Petroleum Coke is a by-product of the oil industry. Raw Petroleum Coke, abbreviated as Coke, Pet-Coke or Petcoke, is a carbonaceous solid derived from oil refinery cooker units or other cracking processes. Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] as a product emerges after Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] is subjected to the industrial process of calcination. Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] is created by processing Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] into rotary kilns. Since the product of Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] undergoes an irreversible chemical change in the industrial process, it is chemically and physically a different item from Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC]. Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] is used as a feedstock for wide range of products such as aluminum, paints, coatings, etc. which are used by a number of industries.

38.1. The petitioners therein were in the business of purchase and sale of Petroleum Coke and used to purchase Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] and pay tax under the provisions of the 1955 Act. Out of the Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC], the petitioner companies used to manufacture Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] and used to sell most of the Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] so manufactured, in the course of inter-State trade or commerce. The petitioner companies had asserted that they paid tax under the CST Act and in view of Section 15[b] of the CST Act, the State of Assam was required to refund the tax levied under the State Act. The Superintendent of Taxes, Assam refused the claims for refund made by the petitioner companies on the ground that Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] and Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] were different commercial commodities.

38.2. The Division Bench considered the provisions of Article 286[3], Section 14 and Section 15 of the CST Act and the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in India Carbon Limited [supra]. The Division Bench had held that Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] and/or Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] would come within the ambit of 'Coke in all its forms' and therefore, Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] and Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] were to be treated as one and the same for the purpose of item [ia] of Section 14 of the CST Act although the commodities were different physically. After analyzing the restrictions dealt by Section 15 of the CST Act, as it stood then, on sales tax law of the State, the Division Bench had held that though the Assam Act had treated Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] and Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC], which were goods declared, as different commodities, for the purposes of sales tax law of the State, such treatment as two different commodities could not prevail over Section 14 of the CST Act. The Division Bench had gone on to hold that if Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] was purchased inside the State and Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] was also sold inside the State, after calcination, and if the State law would impose tax on Raw Petroleum Coke as well as on Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC], it would amount to imposition of tax on a sale or purchase inside the State of goods declared at more than one stage, which was not permissible under Section 15 of the CST Act. It was, thus, held that the State Act could not impose tax on Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] as well as on Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] if a sale or purchase of both Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] and Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] took place within the State of Assam as such imposition of tax would be unconstitutional in view of Article 286[3] of the Constitution read with the CST Act. Finding that the doctrine of 'reading down' would be attracted in the case in order to save unconstitutionality due to arising out of the situation stated, Entry [vii] of Clause [1] of Section 3 of the 1955 Act, was read down as 'Calcined Petroleum Coke [which was not subjected to tax as Raw Petroleum Coke]'.

47. From the above precedents, it is evidently clear that the general principles of law which are laid down are that Petroleum Coke is one of the forms of Coke and it is covered within the phrase, 'Coal, including Coke in all its forms' under Section 14 of the CST Act and it was declared as a good of special importance in inter-State trade or commerce. A good declared as a good of special importance is also referred to as 'declared good'. Though Petroleum Coke can be classified into two commercial commodities, that is, [i] Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC], and [ii] Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC], both of them are treated to be within the ambit of the phrase, 'Coke in all its forms' and they were treated as one and the same for the purpose of Section 14 of the CST Act although the two were different chemically and physically. The general principle of law is also laid down to the effect that if a dealer purchased Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] within the State by paying tax levied under the local tax law and the dealer after converting the purchased Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] into Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC], sold the Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC] outside the State in the course of inter-State trade or commerce and the dealer had paid the Central Sales Tax under the CST Act on such sold Calcined Petroleum Coke [CPC], then the dealer would be entitled for reimbursement of the local tax amount paid on the purchase of Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] as per Section 15[b] of the CST Act. On the issues involved in the above precedents, this Court has not found any later judgment overruling any previous judgment. Meaning thereby, the above general principles of law laid down have been consistent all throughout. Therefore, the petitioner as a dealer under the AVAT Act has a valid claim for reimbursement of the Value Added Tax [VAT] paid on purchase of Raw Petroleum Coke [RPC] in the State.