Full Judgment
1. This petition seeks a declaration that provisions of Section 27 of the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 (for short, 'the Act') are void in absence of any mechanism to exclude a transaction, which is not exigible to sales tax and to direct the respondents to stop deduction of sales tax at two per cent from the labour bills of the petitioner-firm and to refund the amount so deducted.
2. Case of the petitioner is that it was awarded a contract for performing jobs of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, which in substance related to data entry, apart from certain other jobs. Job description of the contract is as under:
Sr. Rates inclusiveNo. Description of all taxes_______________________________________________________________________________1. Reconcilation of remittance in bank Rs. 1.40 percheque/draft_______________________________________________________________________________I. Data feeding of cheques and drafts II. Preparation and printing of remittance challan intriplicate III. Affixing of rubber stamps on each copy of remittancechallan and cheques._______________________________________________________________________________IV. Tearing of challan in two parts and stitching ofcheques/drafts_______________________________________________________________________________V. Posting of cheques, cheques dishonour andreconciliation_______________________________________________________________________________VI. Printing of cleared items_______________________________________________________________________________VII. Printing of unlinked items_______________________________________________________________________________VIII. Printing of schedule of remittance to bank_______________________________________________________________________________2. Reconciliation of drawing from bank 0-01 per entry_______________________________________________________________________________The work comprises of following stages:_______________________________________________________________________________I. The feeding of cheques_______________________________________________________________________________II. Printing of schedule_______________________________________________________________________________III. Posting of date of clearance of cheques,dishonour of cheques_______________________________________________________________________________IV. Reconciliation of drawing from bank_______________________________________________________________________________V. Printing of cleared items_______________________________________________________________________________VI. Printing of unlinked items_______________________________________________________________________________3. Data feeding and reconciliation of trial balance 0-01 per entry_______________________________________________________________________________A. The work comprises of following stages:_______________________________________________________________________________I. Data feeding of entries collection cash book II. Data feeding of entries collection bank book III. Reconciliation with collection bank cheque_______________________________________________________________________________IV. Taking out of print of balance/sheet current(receipt side)_______________________________________________________________________________B. The work includes of following stages of operation: 0-01 per entry_______________________________________________________________________________I. Data feeding of entries collection cash book II. Data feeding of entries collection bank book III. Reconciliation with collection bank cheque_______________________________________________________________________________IV. Taking out of print of balance/sheet_______________________________________________________________________________C. Detail of printing trail balance_______________________________________________________________________________I. Detail of print of J/Slip II. Reconciliation of J/Slip III. Printing trail balance IV. Printing sub-ledgerV. Print of Ledger_______________________________________________________________________________4. Other computerized items Rs. 2 per entry_______________________________________________________________________________5. Data feeding of change in various component of salary 0.01 paise perlike basic pay, DA, HRA, CCA, etc., and recovery itemslike GPF (C), CPF. entry advance, etc._______________________________________________________________________________6. Taking out of print of balance/sheet current 0-01 per set(receipt side)_______________________________________________________________________________The work referred includes_______________________________________________________________________________(a) GPF (C) and refund class IV_______________________________________________________________________________(b) GPF (C) and refund other than class IV_______________________________________________________________________________(c) Loan and advances_______________________________________________________________________________(d) HRR_______________________________________________________________________________(e) PLI_______________________________________________________________________________(f) Society dues_______________________________________________________________________________(g) Welfare_______________________________________________________________________________7. Printing of pay vouchers/A roll/pay slip 0-01 per set_______________________________________________________________________________8. Printing of rent bill/MO list 0-01 per set_______________________________________________________________________________9. Data feeding of rent bill/MO list I 0-01 per set_______________________________________________________________________________10. Data feeding of medical and OTA 0-01 per set_______________________________________________________________________________1. Data entry of medical and OTA_______________________________________________________________________________2. Printing of voucher medical and OTA_______________________________________________________________________________3. Printing of A roll medical and OTA_______________________________________________________________________________11. Feeding of travel allowance 0-01 per set_______________________________________________________________________________1. Data entry2. Printing of voucher3. Printing of A ROLL_______________________________________________________________________________12. Printing of GPF (withdrawal) sanctioning & maintenance of 0-01 per setemployees wise records_______________________________________________________________________________13. Despatch of refund cheques & building rent cheques 0-01 per cheque_______________________________________________________________________________
3. It has been submitted that since in execution of above job/contract, no transfer of goods or sale of goods is involved, no tax was attracted. Reference was made to Section 6 of the Act, which is the charging section. 'Gross turnover' is defined in Section 2(m) of the Act, to include aggregate of the amounts of sales/purchase. It is submitted that before Section 6 of the Act is attracted, there has to be some sale or purchase. In the present case, it is not the case of the respondents that any sale or purchase is involved in executing the contract in question. Reliance has also been placed on a Single Bench judgment of this Court in Keshob Plants v. BSNL C.W.P. No. 19579 of 2002 decided on August 13, 2008 see page 422 supra, holding that if in a works contract, no sale of goods was involved, no sales tax could be allowed to be collected merely on the ground that the same could be refunded later.
4. Only plea of respondent No. 1 is that as per contract entered into between the petitioner and respondent No. 1, respondent No. 1 is entitled to make deductions of two per cent of the payment to be made to the petitioner under Section 27 of the Act. Section 27 of the Act envisages deduction only where payment is made in a contract for transfer of property in goods in pursuance of works contract, which admittedly, is not the situation here.
5. In view of admitted facts, we are of the view that respondent No. 1 cannot make any deduction from the payments to be made to the petitioner. No tax can be collected merely because of agreement between the parties, in absence of tax being leviable under a statutory provision. Judgment relied upon on behalf of the petitioner is clearly applicable and supports the case of the petitioner.
6. Learned Counsel for the State of Punjab points out that under Sub-section (10) of Section 27 of the Act, in case of any dispute, an application can be made by the contractor for issuance of a certificate that no tax was liable to be deducted. In view of admitted facts in the present case, it is not necessary to require the petitioner to resort to the said remedy, which of course is an alternative remedy which the petitioner could have resorted to.
7. Accordingly, we declare that respondent No. 1 is not entitled to make any deduction out of the payments to be made to the petitioner under Section 27 of the Act without any transfer of property in goods being involved.
8. The petitioner will be at liberty to take its remedies for refund of the payments already made. If any such application is made, respondent No. 3 will take a decision thereon within one month from the date of receipt thereof.
9. The petition is disposed of accordingly.