MILLENNIUM STRUCTURALS INDIA LTD Vs. COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order shall dispose of W. P. No. 3184/2007 and w. P. No. 2107/2007, as the controversy in both these cases is identical. Both the writ petitioners have purchased their respective properties from m. P. Financial Corporation, auctioned under Section 29 of the State financial Corporation Act, 1951 (hereinafter referred to as Act), and have felt aggrieved against the recovery proceedings initiated against the said properties, by the Commercial Tax Department of the State Government, for recovery of the Commercial Tax due from the erstwhile owner of the properties. For the sake of convenience, the facts are borrowed from w. P. No. 3184/2007.

(2.) THE petitioner M/s Millennium Structurals is a Company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. One M/s Beta Securities limited, having its Industrial Unit at Industrial Area, Pithampur had raised some financial assistance from M. P. Financial Corporation (hereinafter referred to as Corporation ). Since the liabilities towards the Corporation were not discharged by the borrower Company, M/s Beta Securities limited, provisions of Section 29 of the Act were invoked by the corporation. Ultimately, the properties of the defaulter Company were put to sale. The petitioner-Company was the highest tenderer for the aforesaid properties, and as such, the offer made by the petitioner-Company was accepted by the Corporation.

(3.) ORIGINALLY an agreement dated January 6, 2007 was executed between the petitioner-Company and the Corporation, with regard to the sale of the properties. The entire consideration amount was paid by the petitioner-Company to the Corporation. On payment of the sale consideration, the Corporation executed a sale deed in favour of the petitioner-Company on May 23, 2007. The Corporation entered into a separate agreement for sale of plant and machinery, with one M/s Vikas traders, vide agreement dated January 6, 2007. The petitioner-Company, through a private sale, purchased the aforesaid plant and machinery also from Vikas Traders, for a substantial consideration. Thus, the petitioner claims, that after the purchase of the immovable properties of the erstwhile borrowers, and also on the purchase of the plant and machinery from M/s Vikas Traders, it had acquired absolute ownership of the properties of the erstwhile borrowers, and as such, acquired the properties in question free from all encumbrances.