- (1.) Instant revision petition has been filed by the petitioner-assessee under section 15(1)/(2) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 against the order passed by the Rajasthan Sales Tax Tribunal, Ajmer, (in short "the Tribunal"), who vide order dated July 29, 1981 had modified the order for the assessment year 1976-77 passed by the Deputy Commissioner (Appeals), (in short the DC(A)). The revision petition was admitted on July 20, 1990 by this court on the following questions of law which are as under:-- (1) Whether the Sales Tax Tribunal was justified in holding that the rate of tax on the sale of copper wire bars and copper cathods would be charged and retained at four per cent when according to the accepted position of law the same were held to be falling within the category of rods and sheets, respectively? (2) Whether the Commercial Taxes Department is entitled to retain the amount of tax which has been collected at a rate more than payable under law?
(2.) The learned counsel for the petitioner Mr. Vivek Singhal, at the very outset submitted that there has been no dispute so far as the facts of the present case are concerned, though, the sales tax was leviable at one per cent on copper wire rods and that was as per the notification issued by the Government of Rajasthan, bearing No. F-5(25)FD/CT/72-29 dated December 31,1975. He also submitted that on account of inadvertence the petitioner had collected sales tax at four per cent when he was liable to collect the sales tax at one per cent only. The assessing officer, in the assessment order levied the tax accordingly at the rate of four per cent as the petitioner was charging the same at four per cent though as per the notification, it was only payable at the rate of one per cent only.
(3.) In the first appellate proceedings, the learned DC(A) accepted the contention of the petitioner and directed to apply the tax at one per cent. Both the parties, the petitioner and the respondent preferred appeals before the Tribunal on different grounds and it was pleaded before the Tribunal that it collected the sales tax at four per cent inadvertently and even deposited the entire tax collected in the Government Treasury though the applicable rate of charging tax was one per cent only. In so far as factum of refund of differential amount is concerned, counsel for the petitioner accepted and conceded before the Tribunal that the petitioner has not claimed any amount of refund of three per cent nor would it claim the differential amount of three per cent from the respondent-Department. However, on this premise, the appeal of the respondent-Department was accepted partly by the Rajasthan Sales Tax Tribunal.;