IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE EIGHTH DAY OF AUGUST TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.V.SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO : 14754 of 2008 Between: M/s. Venkat Pharma Limited, Rep. by its Director Ch. Ramesh Babu , Road No.2, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. ..... PETITIONER AND The Commercial Tax Officer, Auto Nagar Circle, Vijayawada, Krishna District. .....RESPONDENT Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ order or direction declaring the Order passed by the Respondent in R.C.No. 2- 1334/2004-2005/A.P.G.S.T. dt. 25-3-2008 as illegal, arbitrary and hence unenforceable and pass such other order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.K.V.SATYANARAYANA Counsel for the Respondents.: SRI K. RAJI REDDY, SPECIAL STANDING COUNSEL FOR COMMERCIAL TAX The Court made the following : . THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.V. SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO : 14754 of 2008 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari) This writ petition is ﬁled by the petitioner challenging the order, dated 25.3.2008 passed by the respondent in R.C.No.2-1334/2004-05/APGST. The main contention urged before this Court by the learned Counsel for the petitioner is that the petitioner had not been granted any opportunity to ﬁle any objections and apart from that there is a diﬀerence between a drug and a bulk drug. Therefore, the order impugned is liable to be set aside. On the other hand, the respondent ﬁled a counter- aﬃdavit, wherein it is stated that the show cause notice was sent to the petitioner by Registered post on 7.6.2006, but the same was returned unserved by postal authorities as ‘company continuously door locked’ and hence, a copy of the notice was aﬃxed to the business premises of the petitioner and also displayed in the notice board of the respondent. However, there was no response from the petitioner. It is also stated that a ﬁnal notice dated 29.1.2008 was issued, in response to which, the petitioner ﬁled a letter, dated 22.2.2008 seeking permission to appear before the respondent on 10.3.2008 and accordingly, time was granted. Heard the learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner and the learned Special Standing Counsel for Commercial Tax and perused the material available on record. A perusal of the order impugned goes to show that the petitioner has not ﬁled any objections, but simply submitted a letter as to the details of purchase. But however, the respondent passed the impugned order having observed that the purchases of raw material from unregistered dealers are treated as VII Schedule goods and they are exigible to tax @ 4%. In the facts and circumstances of the case and in view of the fact that the petitioner has not ﬁled any objections to the show cause notice, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, the order impugned herein is set aside and the matter is remanded for passing fresh orders, after aﬀording an opportunity to the petitioner to ﬁle its objections, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. However, the petitioner is at liberty to raise all the pleas that are raised before this Court. On receipt of such objections, the respondent shall pass appropriate orders after taking into consideration those objections and after aﬀording an opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner, in accordance with law, within a period of eight weeks thereafter. Subject to the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. ________________________ Justice T. Meena Kumari _________________________ Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar Date: 8th August, 2008 nn. THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI and THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.V. SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO : 14754 of 2008 (Order delivered by the Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari) 08/08/2008