The Delhi High Court has upheld an appeal pertaining to a tax period before April 1, 2005, under Section 81 of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004 which repealed the Delhi Sales Tax Act, 1975 on the date of enactment i.e., April 1, 2005.
The court found the fundamental difference between the two enactments regarding the right to appeal was that a person aggrieved, now and after the promulgation of the DVAT Act, is entitled to approach the High Court directly as opposed to petitioning the Tribunal for drawing up a “statement of case” and referring it to the Court.
The respondent submitted that these appeals pertain to a period before April 1, 2005. Thus, the appeal shall be made under Section 45 of the Delhi Sales Tax Act, 1975.
The court held Section 106(4) of the DVAT Act cannot possibly be construed or interpreted as requiring adherence to a procedure that existed under the erstwhile enactment.
Undisputedly, the right to appeal against an order passed by the Appellate Tribunal existed even under the erstwhile DST Act, which is preserved by virtue of Section 81 of that DVAT Act.
The court interpreted the objective of both the Acts and held that the tax which the DST Act sought to impose also pertained to sale of goods and the regulation of transactions in relation thereto. Thus, the DVAT Act appeared to be the reenactment of similar legislation pertaining to the levy of a tax on the sale of goods and other transactions.
The judgment was pronounced by the bench of Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Ravinder Dudeja.
