R.P.SETHI, J. - (1.) THE petitioner-assessee filed an application under section 22 (1) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 with a prayer to the Sales Tax Tribunal for making reference of the questions of law formulated therein to this Court for opinion. The Tribunal vide its order dated January 25, 1994 rejected the application holding that the questions raised by the petitioner was not the substantive questions of law requiring reference to this Court. It was further held that the question regarding rate of tax i. e. , 6 per cent or 4 per cent and taxing the purchase value of rice bran did not arise out of the order of the Tribunal. The other three questions sought to be referred related to the remand proceedings which could not be termed to be questions of law for the purposes of making a reference to the court. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has drawn however our attention to the grounds of appeal filed by the petitioner wherein the petitioner had raised a specific plea regarding the tax liability and the rate of tax.
(2.) THE Supreme Court in Commissioner of Income-tax v. Scindia Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. [1961] 42 ITR 589 has held, "that when a question of law is raised before the Tribunal but the Tribunal fails to deal with it, it must be deemed to have been dealt with by it, and is, therefore, one arising out of this order". In view of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Scindia Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. 's case [1961] 42 ITR 589, the Tribunal was not justified in holding that the question regarding tax liability or its extent did not arise in the case. Similarly, the question as to whether the statutory declaration S. T. XXII can be produced at appellate stage and if produced can the deductions be disallowed on the ground that these declarations were not produced at the time of original assessment was a question of law requiring determination by this Court after reference.
(3.) IN our opinion, the Tribunal was not justified in rejecting the application of the petitioner as a whole and was under an obligation to make a reference to this Court of the questions of law specifically raised in its application numbering (b), (d) and (e ). Accordingly, this application is allowed with a direction to the Tribunal to make a reference of the following questions of law : (i) Whether statutory declarations S. T. XXII can be produced at appellate stage and if produced, can the deductions be disallowed on the ground that these declarations were not produced at the time of original assessment ? (ii) Whether under section 4b, the tax on purchase of such goods, which are liable to be taxed, is taxable at 6 per cent or 4 per cent ? (iii) Whether the tax has been correctly levied on the purchase value of rice bran, which is a tax-free item ? to this Court for adjudication. Application allowed.;