- (1.) THIS petition seeks a declaration that provisions of Section 27 of the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 (for short, "the Act") are void in absence of any mechanism to exclude a transaction, which is not exigible to sales tax and to direct the respondents to stop deduction of sales tax at two per cent from the labour bills of the petitioner -firm and to refund and amount so deducted.
(2.) CASE of the petitioner is that it was awarded a contract for performing jobs of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, which in substance related to data entry, apart from certain other jobs. Job description of the contract is as under: S.No. Description Rates inclusive of all Taxes - - - - 1. Reconciliation of remittance in bank Rs. 1.40 per cheque/draft - - - - I. Data feeding of cheques and drafts - - - - II. Preparation and printing of remittance challan in triplicate - - - - III. Affixing of rubber stamps on each copy of remittance challan and cheques. - - - - IV. Tearing of challan in two parts and stitching of cheques/drafts - - - - V. Posting of cheques, cheques dishonour and reconciliation - - - - VI. Printing of cleared items - - - - VII. Printing of unlinked items - - - - VIII. Printing of schedule of remittance to bank - - - - - - 2. Reconciliation of drawing from bank 0 -01 per entry The work comprises of following stages: - - - - - - I. The feeding of cheques - - - II. Printing of schedule - - - III. Posting of date of clearance of cheques, dishonour of cheques - - IV. Reconciliation of drawing from bank - - V. Printing of cleared items - - - - VI. Printing of unlinked items - - 3. Data feeding and reconciliation of trial balance 0 -01 per entry - - A. The work comprises of following stages: - - I. Data feeding of entries collection cash book - - II. Data feeding of entries collection bank book - - - - III. Reconciliation with collection bank cheque - - - - IV. Taking out of print of balance/sheet current (receipt side) - - - - B. The work includes of following stages of operation: 0 -01 per entry - - - - I. Data feeding of entries collection cash book - - - - II. Data feeding of entries collection bank work - - - - III. Reconciliation with collection bank cheque - - - - IV. Taking out of print of balance/sheet - - - - C. Detail of printing trail balance - - - - I. Detail of print of J/Slip - - - - II. Reconciliation of J/Slip - - - - III. Printing trail balance - - - - IV. Printing sub -ledger - - - - V. Print of Ledger - - - - 4. Other computerized items Rs. 2 per entry - - - - 5. Data feeding of change in various component 0.01 paise per of salary like basic pay, DA, HRA, CCA, etc., entry and recovery items like GPF (C), CPF. Advance, etc. - - - - 6. Taking out of print of balance/sheet current 0 -01 per set (receipt side) - - - - The work referred includes - - - - (a) GPF (C) and refund class IV - - - - (b) GPF (C) and refund other than class IV - - - - (c) Loan and advances - - - - (d) HRR - - - - (e) PLI - - (f) Society dues - - (g) Welfare - - 7. Printing of pay vouchers/A roll/pay slip 0 -01 per set - - - - - 8. Printing of rent bill/MO list 0 -01 per set - - - - 9. Data feeding of rent bill/MO list 0 -01 per set - - - - 10. Data feeding of medical and OTA 0 -01 per set - - - - 1. Data entry of medical and OTA - - - - 2. Printing of voucher medical and OTA - - - - 3. Printing of a roll medical and OTA - - - - 11. Feeding of travel allowance 0 -01 per set - - - - 1. Data entry - - - - 2. Printing of voucher - - - - 3. Printing of A ROLL - - - - 12. Printing of GPF'(withdrawal) sanctioning and 0 -01 per set maintenance of employees wise records - - - - 13. Despatch of refund cheques and building rent 0 -01 per cheque cheques - -
(3.) IT has been submitted that since in execution of above job/contract, no transfer of goods or sale of goods is involved, no tax was attracted. Reference was made to Section 6 of the Act, which is the charging section. "Gross turnover" is defined in Section 2(m) of the Act, to include aggregate of the amounts of sales/purchase. It is submitted that before Section 6 of the Act is attracted, there has to be some sale or purchase. In the present case, it is not the case of the respondents that any sale or purchase is involved in executing the contract in question. Reliance has also been placed on a Single Bench judgment of this Court in Keshob Plants v. BSNL, (2009) 22 VST 422 holding that if in a works contract, no sale of goods was involved, no sales tax could be allowed to be collected merely on the ground that the same could be refunded later. Only plea of respondent No. 1 is that as per contract entered into between the petitioner and respondent No. 1, respondent No. 1 is entitled to make deductions of two per cent of the payment to be made to the petitioner Under Section 27 of the Act. Section 27 of the Act envisages deduction only where payment is made in a contract for transfer of property in goods in pursuance of works contract, which admittedly, is not the situation here.;