Jurisprudentiol – Monday's cases

By Vijay Kumar

Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.Service Tax

It's Service Tax on GTO again - Gujarat High Court in successive judgements upholds Tribunal's orders on time bar

IT was only on 14 th September 2010 we carried the Larger Bench decision on the issue whether the Show Cause Notices issued in 2004 for recovery of service tax on transportation of goods by road pertaining to the period from 16.11.1997 to 1.6.1998 were hit by time bar. The Larger Bench emphatically ruled the issue in favour of revenue by holding that the SCNs were valid 2010-TIOL-1185-CESTAT-DEL-LB.

Income Tax

Income tax - Penalty u/s 271(1)(c) - Penalty cannot be imposed in case of inadvertent mistake on part of assessee: ITAT

THE issue before the Tribunal is - Whether penalty can be levied even in respect of inadvertent mistake.

VAT

Delhi VAT - Merely because the 'religious pictures' are mounted, it cannot be said that they are no longer religious pictures; an item should be classified according to its nature and use and not on the basis of the value of its accessories; principle of ejusdem generis – not an inviolable rule of law: High Court

THE respondent who is registered vide TIN No. 07440197334 with the Sales Tax Department is stated to be engaged in the business of importing and selling the pictures of various deities and religious icons having images of Lord Krishna, Lord Hanuman, Lord Mahavira, Lord Rama, Lord Vishnu, Maa Durga, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Cross, Om, Swastik, etc., on gold plated nickel foils. The respondent is also engaged in the business of procuring metallic, acrylic, and wooden frames, nuts and bolts, screws, clips, etc. locally and selling the foils after putting them into the frames. The case of the respondent is that the items in question are religious pictures not for use as calendars and, thus, covered by Entry No.45 of the First Schedule and consequently exempt from tax.

See our columns on Monday for the judgements.