CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 2726 OF 2008
(Arising out of SLP(C) No.11166/2007)
VERSUS
ORDER
Leave granted.
The short but important question of law which arises for determination in this C ivil
Appeal is whether the subject transaction is an interstate sale or not under Section 3(a) of the
Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.
In our view, the learned Single Judge was right in coming to the conclusion that the
matter required interpretation of various documents and adjudication on numerous facts.
That, there is a hierarchy of Authorities before whom the assessee could have obtained red ress
and since the assessee had failed to prefer an appeal to the First Appellate Authority und er
Section 20 of Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957, the assessee should be directed to exhaust th e
appeal provisions under the said 1957 Act. In this connection, it may be noted that the
assessee preferred Writ Petition to the High Court against the Order of Assessment,
without exhausting the provisions concerning appeal under Section 20 of the 1957 Act.
However, the Division Bench in the present
case has gone into the merits of the case and has decided the matter against the assessee. W e
are of the view that the Division Bench should not have interfered with the impugned order
passed by the learned Single Judge in directing the assessee to exhaust statutory remedy
under the Act, particularly, when disputed facts arose for determination which warranted
adjudication by the Authorities under the Act.
Accordingly, we set aside the impugned judgment of the Division Bench and restore
the Order of the learned Single Judge directing the assessee to move in appeal under Section
20 of the 1957 Act.
The assessee - appellant herein will move under Section 20 of the 1957 Act in
appeal within a period of four weeks from today. The delay, if any, stands condoned for the
simple reason that important question of law does arise and secondly, the assessee herein ha s
deposited substantial amount under the 1957 Act. We may further state that the appeal shall
be decided on merits without pre-deposit within two months of the date of the assessee filin g
its appeal. The First Appellate Authority is directed to dispose of the matter uninfluenced by
the observations made in the impugned judgment.
Civil Appeal stands disposed of accordingly with no order as to costs.
April 10, 2008 [ B. SUDERSHAN REDDY ]