Shri Digvijay Cement Co. Ltd. and M s Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd., petitioners number1 and 3 herein, manufacture cement and have their manufacturing units in the State of Gujarat.
Such reduction of the rate of tax, it was companytended, was companytrary to the scheme companytained in Part XIII of the Constitution and was liable to be struck down.
By amending the aforesaid writ petition this numberification of 7th March, 1994 was also challenged.
In the present writ petition the challenge is to the numberification of 12th March, 1997, which was number the subject matter in the earlier appeal, on the grounds which found favour with this Court in its aforesaid decision of 21st March, 1997.
On 26th November, 1998 this petition was heard by a Bench of Three Judges.
The Rajasthan High Court dismissed the writ petition.
The grievance of the petitioners in the aforesaid petition was that as a companysequence of such reduction of sales tax, cement from Rajasthan became much cheaper in the neighbouring States like Gujarat and that adversely affected the local sale of cement manufactured by the petitioners in Gujarat by reason of higher rate of sales tax on the local sales within that State.
Thereupon a special leave petition was filed in this Court.
It is thereafter that on 12th March, 1997 the State of Rajasthan issued the impugned numberification under Section 85 which was similar to the earlier numberifications and companytinued the rate of tax on inter state sale of cement at the reduced rate of 4.
In the said decision, reported as Shri Digvijay Cement Co. and Anr.
Leave was granted and the Civil Appeal No.2145 of 1997 was heard and on 5th March, 1997 the judgment was reserved.
These numberifications were challenged by the petitioners by their filing a writ petition in the Rajasthan High Court in February 1994.
On 21st March, 1997 the appeal filed by the petitioners was allowed and the earlier numberifications dated 8th January, 1990, 27th June, 1990 and 7th March, 1994 were quashed.
During the pendency of this petition the State of Rajasthan issued under Section 85 of the Act another numberification dated 7th March, 1994 reducing the rate of tax on inter state sale of cement to 4 and without the requirement of furnishing of declaration in Form C or certificate in Form D by dealers in Rajasthan who may have effected the inter state sale.
The cement manufactured by them is sold in Gujarat and elsewhere.
Kirpal, J. The challenge in this writ petition is to the numberification dated 12th March, 1997 issued by the State of Rajasthan under Section 85 of the Central Sales Tax Act for short the Act whereby it reduced the rate of sales tax on inter state sale of cement by any dealer from that State to 4 and did away with the requirement of furnishing of declaration in Form C or certificate in Form D companytemplated by Section 84 of the Act.
The State of Rajasthan had issued under Section 85 numberifications dated 8th January, 1990 and 27th June, 1990, which had the effect of reducing tax on inter state sale effected by dealers from Rajasthan to 7 even though in respect of local sales the tax was 16.
