IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE MRS JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 12499 of 2008 Between: M/s. Standard Products Manufacturing Company Unit-B/69, Assisted Private Industrial Estate Balanagar, Hyderabad, Rep. by its Vice President Mr. R. Srinivasa Raju ..... PETITIONER AND The Commercial Tax Officer (FAC) Fathenagar Circle, Hyderabad. .....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 an appropriate writ or direction more particularly one in the nature of writ of Mandamus declaring the action of the respondent in passing the impugned assessment order dt 31- 3-2008 for the assessment year 2005-2006 which was served on the petitioner on 5-6-2008 as illegal, arbitrary, high handed without authority of law and jurisdiction and is in clear violation of principles of natural justice and set aside the same and declare that the petitioner is not liable for the disputed tax since no part of the turnover is taxable in the hands of the petitioner as the disputed turnover represents only job work charges for manufacturing the drug intermediates by using the raw material supplied by the other State Customers and also in view of the Fact the entire turnover is covered by the declarations in Form-F and to pass such other order or orders. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.BHASKAR REDDY VEMIREDDY Counsel for the Respondents.: SPECIAL STANDING COUNSEL FOR COMMERCIAL TAX The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MRS JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 12499 of 2008 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari) This writ petition is filed by the petitioner seeking to declare the action of the respondent in passing the assessment order dated 31.3.2008 for the assessment year 2005-06 as illegal and arbitrary and set aside the same. It is the case of the petitioner that the turnover in dispute represents the job work charges for processing the material supplied by its customers and therefore, no part of the turnover can be assessed to tax. In support of its claim, the petitioner filed documentary evidence also viz., job work agreements, permissions granted by customs and Central Excise Department for doing the job work. But without considering the objections and the documentary evidence and without affording any opportunity of personal hearing, the respondent passed the impugned order. Heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner and the learned Standing Counsel for the respondent and perused the material available on record. The learned Counsel for the petitioner contended that the respondent passed the impugned order without taking into consideration the fact that the disputed turn over represents only job work charges for manufacturing the drug intermediates by using the raw material supplied by the other State customers and that the entire turnover is covered by the declarations in Form F and that the petitioner is not the owner of the goods and there is no transfer of property involved in the transactions and therefore, the assessment is illegal and untenable. It is further contended that the impugned order was passed without considering any of the objections filed by the petitioner and without putting the petitioner on notice about the proposal to treat the transaction as inter-state sales. In view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and in view of the submission made by the learned Counsel for the petitioner that an opportunity has to be afforded before passing any order, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, We feel it just and proper to remand the matter for passing appropriate orders after affording an opportunity to the petitioner, subject to the certain conditions. Accordingly, the matter is remanded to the respondent for passing appropriate orders after giving an opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner, subject to the condition of the petitioner depositing Rs.5,00,000/- out of the tax due amount, within a period of eight weeks from today. It is needless to observe that on compliance of the above stipulated condition only, the matter shall be reheard. Subject to above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. ________________________ Justice T. Meena Kumari ___________________________ Justice Ramesh Ranganathan Date: 23rd June, 2008 Nn/gurc. THE HON'BLE MRS JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No:12499 OF 2008 (Order delivered by the Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari) 23/06/2008