M/S. SHIV STEELS VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM (SUPREME COURT) 2025 INSC 1126
| COURT: | Supreme Court |
| JUDGES: | J.B. Pardiwala J., Sandeep Mehta J |
| LEGISLATION(S): | Section 19 of the Assam General Sales Tax Act 1993 |
| COUNSEL: | Chinmoy Pradip Sharma, Manish Goswami |
| FILE: | Click here to download the file in pdf format |
| In construing fiscal statutes and in determining the liability of a subject to tax one must have regard to the strict letter of law. If the revenue satisfies the court that the case falls strictly within the provisions of the law, the subject can be taxed. If, on the other hand, the case is not covered within the four corners of the provisions of the taxing statute, no tax can be imposed by inference or by analogy or by trying to probe into the intentions of the legislature and by considering what was the substance of the matter | |
(i) The assessments undertaken for the three years were already held to be invalid because of being time barred, in view of Section 19 of the Assam General Sales Tax Act, 1993. Later, by virtue of obtaining sanction from the Commissioner, the revenue could not have taken recourse to Section 21 of the Act to say that the reassessment within four years is permissible with prior sanction from the Commissioner. Section 21 would apply only in cases where no assessment has been made under any of the provisions of the Act within the time limits specified in Section 19. The interpretation of the two provisions of the Act at the end of the High Court is completely incorrect.
(ii) In construing fiscal statutes and in determining the liability of a subject to tax one must have regard to the strict letter of law. If the revenue satisfies the court that the case falls strictly within the provisions of the law, the subject can be taxed. If, on the other hand, the case is not covered within the four corners of the provisions of the taxing statute, no tax can be imposed by inference or by analogy or by trying to probe into the intentions of the legislature and by considering what was the substance of the matter.