Swastik Tubes Ltd. vs State of Haryana and Others

Hemant Gupta, J.—Prayer made in the writ petition is to seek quashing of annexure P8 said to be illegal and without jurisdiction. The petitioner is a dealer registered under the provisions of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 and is engaged in manufacturing and sale of PVC pipes. The petitioner asserts that entry 21 of Schedule B annexed to the Haryana General Sales Tax Act exempt agricultural implements from payment of tax. A notification was issued on May 10, 1995 with the intent to exempt from payment of tax the sale of components of agricultural pumping sets, etc.

The petitioner was served with a notice dated February 14, 1997, calling upon the petitioner to pay tax of PVC pipes sold by it. The petitioner submitted the reply that as per the notification issued in Hindi, the PVC pipes are exempt from payment of tax. The impugned communication, annexure P8, is a communication to the reply submitted by the petitioner to the said communication.

Admittedly, after such communication, the Assessing Authority has finalized the assessment vide order dated March 25, 1998. The order of assessment is appealable in terms of the provisions of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973. Since the assessment has been framed against which the petitioner has effective alternative remedy, we refrain ourselves from exercising the writ jurisdiction of this court at this stage. Dismissed with liberty to the petitioner to avail of the statutory remedy as is available to the petitioner in accordance with law.