IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI ANIL R. DAVE, THE CHIEF JUSTICE and THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No: 26659 of 2008 Between: MSTC Limited (A Government of India Enterprise) 6th Floor, LIC Building, "Jeevan Prakash" Jeevitha Bema Road, Visakhapatnam-4 rep by its Branch Manager, Samir Kumar Chowdary ..... PETITIONER AND 1 Joint Commissioner (CT) Lgal, O/o Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad. 2 Appellate Deputy Commissioner (CT), Visakhapatnam. 3 Commercial Tax Officer, Dabagadens Circle, Visakhapatnam. 4 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (formerly Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India, Rep. by its Chief General Manager, Telecom District, Abids, HYDERABAD - 1. .....RESPONDENT(S) 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 to issue an apropriate writ, order or direction, more particularly in the nature of Writ of Mandamus (i) setting aside the order dated 16.09.2008 issued by the 1st respondent and interdict the 3rd respondent from collecting the balance disputed tax amounting to Rs. 41,66,699/- for the assessment year 1999-2000 pending disposal of the appeal before 2nd respondent and (ii) declare the inaction of the 4th respondent in not providing the details of the sales tax paid by it for the asessment year 1999-2000 to the petitioner or the 4th respondent to provide the details of the sales tax paid for the assessment year 1999-2000 to the petitioner or the 3rd respondent and pass Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.A.SARVESWAR RAO Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR COMMERCIAL TAX The Court made the following : THE HON’BLE SRI ANIL R. DAVE, THE CHIEF JUSTICE and THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN W.P.No.26659 of 2008 ORAL ORDER: (Per HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN) M.S.T.C limited, a Government of India undertaking, has invoked this Court’s jurisdiction aggrieved by the order dated 16.9.2008 whereby the revision preferred by the petitioner was rejected by the Joint Commissioner. The case of the petitioner, in short, is that it had merely acted as an agent of BSNL for sale of scrap, that it does not deal with or handle the goods in question and that liability, if any, is on BSNL to pay the tax. It is not in dispute that, as against the tax demanded of approximately Rs.41.00 lakhs, Rs.27.00 lakhs has been paid which includes the amount paid by BSNL, and that the appeal preferred by the petitioner before the 2nd respondent is still pending. Sri S.R.Ashok, Learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, would submit that the Joint Commissioner had failed to consider any of the aforesaid contentions and that his order is liable to be set aside as it suffered from non-application of mind. He would request this Court to direct the 2nd respondent to dispose of the appeal itself expeditiously. Sri K.Raji Reddy, Learned Special Government Pleader for Commercial Tax, would submit that the Appellate Commissioner would require around four weeks time to dispose of the appeal. We find considerable force in the submission made by Sri S.R.Ashok, Learned Senior Counsel. However, as the appeal is pending before the 2nd respondent, we do not think it appropriate go into the merits of the controversy or to make any observations thereon. Since a substantial part of the disputed tax has already been paid, ends of justice would be met if the impugned order is set aside and the 2nd respondent is directed to dispose of the appeal preferred by the petitioner within a period of four weeks from today. It is made clear that the petitioner shall cooperate in the early disposal of the appeal. The writ petition stands disposed of accordingly. No order as to costs ___________________ ANIL R. DAVE, CJ _____________________________ RAMESH RANGANATHAN, J Date:17-03-2009 ASP