The Bombay High Court, while granting the interim relief to the petitioner, directed the authority to issue Forms ‘C’ to its sellers for the inter-state purchase of natural gas.
The Petitioner, Asahi India Glass Ltd. is a company engaged in the manufacture of float glass in its factory situated at MIDC Industrial Area, Taloja in the district of Raigad, Maharashtra. For the purpose of manufacturing of float glass, petitioner purchases natural gas on an inter-state basis from the State of Gujarat.
The purchased natural gas is utilized as a fuel in the furnace of the petitioner for the purpose of carrying out its manufacturing process. The natural gas is used by the petitioner as a fuel to heat the furnaces to melt the raw materials.
The petitioner prayed for the interim relief before the court.
Firstly, to declare that petitioner is eligible to issue declarations in ‘C’ Forms to its sellers for the inter-state purchase of natural gas which is consumed by the petitioner in the manufacture of commodities no longer defined as ‘goods’ with effect from July 1, 2017 under section 2(d) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.
Secondly, for a direction to the respondents to issue ‘C’ forms to the petitioner.
The division judge bench of Justice Abhay Ahuja and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan clarified that the word ‘goods’ appearing in the second half of section 8(3)(b) of the CST Act may not necessarily mean the goods as defined under section 2(d) of the CST Act. Further, registration of a dealer under section 7(2) of the CST Act is not subject to any liability of the dealer to pay tax.
Therefore, the court passed the interim orders whereby directions were issued for issuance of ‘C’ forms to the petitioners.
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