- (1.) THIS judgment shall dispose of Civil Appeal No. 4491 of 2002 filed against a detailed order by which the High court has dismissed the Writ Petition filed by the appellant and the three connected appeals which have been filed by the Assessees against the dismissal of their writ petitions by the High Court following the impugned order in Civil Appeal No. 4491 of 2002.
(2.) FACTS are taken from Civil Appeal No. 4491 of 2002, which is the main appeal. The relevant period is from November, 1994 to March, 1995 which falls in the Assessment Year 1994-95. The appellant deals in the sale of silver bars. It filed its return showing a turnover of Rs. 14,33,01,470/- and paid sales tax at the rate of =%. The Assessing Authority accepted the said return and completed the assessment on 27. 11. 1995. Later, the Assessing Officer issued notice on 17. 8. 1996 proposing to reopen the assessment under section 14 (4) (c) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax act, 1957 (for short "the Act") and bring the above turnover to tax at the rate of 2%, apart from additional tax and surcharge, on the premise that G. O. Ms No. 1092 and G. O. Ms No. 252 reducing the rate of sales tax to =% were applicable only to gold bullion and the same were not applicable to silver bullion and specie. Questioning the said show cause notice, the appellant filed W. P. No. 21503 of 1996. The High Court dismissed the writ petition on the ground of alternate remedy of filing the objection and getting a decision from the authorities under the Act on merits. The appellant thereafter filed objections claiming that the reduced rate of sales tax under the G. O. was applicable not only to gold bullion but also to silver bullion. That the bracketed words "gold" used in the above G. O. applies only to specie and not to bullion. The Assessing Officer rejected the contention of the assessee and framed the re-assessment. Questioning the said re-assessment, the appellant filed writ Petition No. 1727 of 1997 which has been dismissed by the impugned order. It was stated in the writ petition that though a remedy of appeal was available, but the said remedy by way of appeal would not be effective in the light of the clarification issued by the Commissioner of Commercial tax by his order dated 22. 3. 1995, clarifying that the g. O. Ms No. 1092 is applicable only to the gold bullion and not to silver bullion. It was also contended that the issue relates only to the interpretation of G. Os. , therefore, to have effective and binding decision the appellant has approached the High Court by filing the writ petition. The said writ petition was entertained. It has been dismissed on merits.
(3.) IT is not in dispute that the appellant is a dealer in silver bullion. Under Item-20 of the First Schedule to the Act the original rate prescribed is 2%. However, the state Government issued Notification under Section 9 (1)of the Act in G. O. Ms. No. 1092 dated 31. 10. 1994 reducing the rate of sales tax to =% in respect of 'bullion and specie (gold)' from the date of the said Notification. In order to appreciate the controversy in issue, it would be necessary to refer to the Entry in the First Schedule to the Act as well as the Notification issued on 31. 10. 1994. Entry 20 in First Schedule to the Act reads :- JUDGEMENT_453_TLPRE0_2008Html1.htm The expression 'bullion' in Entries 20 and 21 has been defined in Explanation I to the First Schedule which reads:- "explanation-1:--The expression 'bullion' in items 20 and 21 means pure gold or silver and includes gold or silver mixed with copper, lead or any other kind of base metal. " ;