Dipak Chakraborti, Member (T) - (1.) IN this application filed under Section 8 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987, the applicant -company, namely, Manmachine India (P) Limited, a company falling within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1956 having its branch office at D -571, Lake Gardens, Kolkata 700 045, has mainly challenged the order dated September 8, 2009 of the Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Public Relations (Respondent No. 1) communicated to the applicant -company under memo No. 644CT/PRO/9I/PRO/09/479 dated September 8, 2009. Such communication was made by Respondent No. 1 with reference to the applicant -company's letter dated June 12, 2009. It was communicated therein that "cleaning machine" being not covered by Schedules A, B, C of the West Bengal Value Added Tax Act, 2003 (in short, "the VAT Act") would be exigible to tax at 12.5 per cent as an unspecified item. The applicant has also challenged memo No. 2764JC(BC) dated December 22, 2009 issued under signature of the Sales Tax Officer, Behala Charge (Respondent No. 2) alleging short -payment of taxes on sales of cleaning machines. The applicant -company is registered both under the VAT Act and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 holding registration Nos. 19624404069 and 19624404263, respectively. Prior to coming into force of the VAT Act, it was registered under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994 (in short, "the 1994 Act"). The said registration was effective from June 21, 2004.
(2.) THE applicant -company is a reseller and importer of machineries and spares commonly treated as "industrial cleaning machine" (in short, "disputed item"). Both the sides submitted written notes on their submissions.
(3.) SRI D.K. Bhattacharyya, learned advocate appearing on behalf of the applicant -company, submits that the disputed item falls very much within the meaning of entry 54B in Part I of Schedule C to the VAT Act. It is argued by him that production of a manufacturing unit depends upon many factors. One of the factors is that the productive machineries as well as the work place should be kept neat and clean without using any chemical substance. Now -a -days steps are also taken to keep the places of work pollution -free. It is also contended by the learned advocate that prior to maintenance shut down, such machines can pinpoint leaks and problem areas reducing shut down time of the machineries. The use of such machines helps to carry on production smoothly.;