The Allahabad High Court quashed the ex parte order against Vodafone Idea.
The revisionist, Vodafone Idea has filed the petition against the order of the Commercial Tax Tribunal, Meerut passed in Second Appeal. By that order, the Tribunal has, by it’s ex parte order, dismissed the appeal filed by the assessee.
The issue raised was Whether the equipment in question which has been held to be an electronic equipment would be covered by item no. 5 machinery and spare parts of machinery of Schedule referred in Section 4(1) of the U.P. Tax on Entry of Goods Act.
The Tribunal reconsidered the appeal for A.Y.s 1999-2000 and 2000-01. In those cases, the Tribunal reached a conclusion that telecom equipment imported by the petitioner fell under the category “All other electronic goods” and, therefore, it did not qualify under the Scheduled commodity under the entry tax Act.
The petitioner urged that the same conclusion would attract in the present case as well, however, the Tribunal has erred in reaching a contrary conclusion, that too, without considering its earlier view. In that regard, it has been further submitted that the petitioner could not bring to the knowledge of the Tribunal an earlier adjudication made by it, in the case of the assessee itself, since the matter proceeded ex-parte, on practically the first date fixed in the proceedings after the Tribunal reopened post lockdown enforced due to spread of the pandemic Covid-19.
The ex-parte nature of the order apart, at present, it does stand out that the Tribunal has taken two divergent views in the case of the assessee itself, inasmuch as, in the earlier order, the Tribunal had clearly opined that the goods that have been dealt with by the assessee are not taxable under the provisions of the Entry Tax Act, whereas, in the appeal giving rise to the present revision, a contrary view has been taken. While taking a contrary view, the Tribunal has not considered the earlier adjudication made by it, which adjudication had become necessary in light of the earlier decision of this Court.
The single-judge bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh said that no useful purpose would be served in keeping the present revision pending or seeking to adjudicate the same on merits, inasmuch as, it cannot be denied that the order impugned in the present revision is an ex-parte order, passed without consideration of the earlier adjudication made by the co-ordinate bench of the Tribunal.
Therefore, the order is set aside and the matter remitted to the Tribunal to pass a fresh order in accordance with law.
“The Court has not expressed any opinion as to the taxability of the goods but the order of remand has become necessary because the Tribunal was obliged to consider its earlier view before reaching any other conclusion, on the same facts. The recoveries would abide by the adjudication made on merits in terms of this order,” the court said.
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