NEW TECH SERVICES (P) LIMITED Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE three appeals are filed by the same appellant M/s. New Tech Services (P) Limited, Secunderabad, and as the issue involved is also same, they are being heard together and disposed of by this common order. T.A. No. 403/05 relates to the assessment year 1994 -95 (APGST), T.A. No. 702/07 relates to the assessment year 1993 -94 (APGST) and T.A. No. 703/07 relates to the assessment year 1993 -94 (CST). The appellants have appealed against the orders of the Joint Commissioner (CT) (Legal), Hyderabad, who denied them concessional rate of 4% tax on wire connectors by virtue of G.O. Ms. No. 721, dated 01.07.1985 read with list of Electronic Goods prepared by the Electronic Commission. According to the appellant, the Joint Commissioner erred in coming to the conclusion that G.O. Ms. No. 721 relates only to the assessment year 1986 -87 and does not apply for the assessment years under consideration i.e., 1993 -94 & 1994 -95.

(2.) ACCORDING to the appellants, the G.O. Ms. No. 721 was followed by subsequent Government Orders 520, G.O. Ms. No. 864 & G.O. Ms. No. 252 that dealt with, concessional rate of tax applicable to the electronic goods for later assessment years and those years which are under consideration. According to the appellant, the items under question i.e., wire connectors are to be treated as electronic goods as they appeared under Item 13.61 of the list prepared by the Electronic Commission and hence as per orders of the Hon'ble A.P. High Court in the appellant's own case reported in : (2003) 37 APSTJ 50, wherein the Hon'ble High Court has categorically held that the wire connectors used in communication systems are electronic goods. According to the appellant, this order of the Hon'ble A.P. High Court cannot be ignored by the Sales Tax Authorities and relief has to be granted to them.

(3.) AFTER going through the records placed before us and arguments of the appellant, the question for consideration is whether the 'wire connectors' are to be treated as electronic goods or not. We have gone through the judgment of the Hon'ble High A.P. High Court in the case of the appellant's own case reported at : (2003) 37 APSTJ 50 as well as the latest judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of State of Andhra Pradesh Vs. Concap Capacitors : 2007(217) E.L.T. 481 (S.C.) In their judgment, their Lordships of the Apex Court, have while upholding the order of the Hon'ble A.P. High Court categorically stated that functional test, operating principle or user test is not applicable when an item is specifically included in the list prepared for classification by Government and the classification in that case has to be made as per list only. We have perused the list prepared by the Electronics Commission and find that Item 13.61 reads as "Connectors (Coaxial, Cylindrical, Rack & Panel, Printed Circuit etc., Please specify)" as also pointed out by the Hon'ble A.P. High Court in their judgment. Thus, we find that as claimed by the appellants, connectors of all types would be covered by this entry. Hence applying the ratio of the judgment of the Apex Court, we are left with no doubt that we need to look no further than the list prepared by the Electronics Commission to come to a conclusion that the orders of the Joint Commissioner (CT) (Legal) have to be set -aside and consequential relief should be granted to the appellant. It may also be mentioned that Joint Commissioner (CT)(Legal) did not have the benefit of the decision of the Apex Court before him when he passed the orders which have been appealed against. We have also gone through the various G.Os., relief under which has been claimed by the appellant and it is seen that relief originally granted under G.O. Ms. No. 721 has been extended by the Government from time to time by issuing other G.Os., as claimed by the appellant. The two assessment years 1993 -94 and 1994 -95 were covered by G.O. Ms. No. 520, dated 20.07.88 and G.O. Ms. No. 864, dated 07.09.93.