Allahabad High Court Upholds Tribunal's Ruling on Taxation Of Granite Stones
|The Allahabad High Court dismissed a tax revision petition filed for the determination of the taxation slab of granite stones.
The revision petition was admitted based on the question of law regarding the taxation of granite stone blocks and pieces. The issue for consideration before the Court was whether the items sold by the dealer should be taxable at 5% under entry no.109 of Schedule II Part A, as per a government notification, even though granite stone was not mentioned.
The notification included sand, gitti, bajri, kankar, stone ballast, stone but not including glazed stone marble and marble chips.
A Single Bench of Justice Shekhar B. Saraf observed, “glazed stone, marble and marble chips have been specifically excluded from the definition of "stone" in Entry No.109. If the Legislature wanted to exclude granite stone, the same could have very well been done by the amendment carried out on March 31, 2011. It is my view that if one were to agree with the submission made by the revenue, one would have to exclude several items that would ordinarily be termed as "stone", which is not permissible in law”
Advocate Ravi Shanker Pandey represented the revisionist, while Advocate Ishir Sripat appeared for the opposite party.
The revenue argued that granite stone was not included in the entry list and should be taxed at 14.5% since the list was meant for substances of lesser value, and granite stone, being expensive, should not be treated the same under this category.
The Court stated “Entry No.l09 specifically includes "stone" with the caveat that the same shall not include glazed stone, marble and marble chips”
The Court reasoned that if the Legislature intended to exclude granite stone, it would have done so during the amendment as notified by the notification.
The Court also explained that the Tribunal's decision was in consonance with the exclusion of processed stones in Entry No.109, considering glazed stones were specifically excluded.
Accordingly, the Court dismissed the revision petition.
Cause Title: The Commissioner, Commercial Tax v. M/S Peethambra Granites Pvt. Ltd. (2024:AHC:7083)