Arijit Pasayat, C.J.
1. In this application under Section 41 of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 (in short 'the Act') read with Rule 41(1) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Rules, 1963 (in short 'the Rules'), only dispute relates to the question whether assessee was entitled to claim exemption in respect of the sales turnovers of M.S. rounds purchased from National Steel Trading Corporation, being second sales, for the assessment year 1992-93.
2. The assessing authority as well as the Deputy Commissioner (Appeals), Kollam, the first appellate authority, held that the assessee was not entitled to the exemption. Ground for disallowance of the claim was that aforesaid National Steel Trading Corporation was not a registered dealer under the Act from 1989-90 onwards. The Kerala Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, Thiruvananthapuram (in short 'the Tribunal') referred to certain documents to hold that Revenue had not established that said concern was not a registered dealer or that registration granted to it had been cancelled.
3. In support of the revision application it has been submitted by learned counsel for the Revenue that under Section 14(5) of the Act, renewal has to be on year-to-year basis and unless the certificate issued Under Sub-section (2) of Section 14 is renewed, dealer ceases to be a registered dealer.
4. Learned counsel for the assessee, on the other hand, submitted that Tribunal on consideration of factual aspects found National Steel Trading Corporation to be a registered dealer. Reference was made by the Tribunal to the invoice in which the dealer had described itself as a registered dealer and the document at page 171 of assessment records, i.e., a copy of Certificate of Registration which indicated it to be a registered dealer.
5. In order to appreciate rival submissions, it is necessary to take note of relevant statutory provisions. Section 14 deals with procedure for registration. Sub-Sections (2) and (5) which have some bearing on the dispute read as follows :
'Sub-section (2) : If the prescribed authority after making such enquiries as it may consider necessary is satisfied,--
(a) that the application is in order ;
(b) that the particulars furnished therein are correct ; and
(c) that the security, if any, required to be furnished Under Sub-section (2A) has been furnished, it shall register the applicant and issue to him a certificate in the prescribed form.'
'Sub-section (5) : A certificate issued under Sub-section (2) shall be valid for a year and shall be renewed from year to year on payment of the fee specified in Sub-section (1) and continues to be valid on such renewal.'
Section 5 appearing in Chapter III deals with incidence and levy of tax. Section 5(1) deals with liability to pay tax on the taxable turnover in the case of goods specified in the First or Second Schedule, at the rates and only at the points specified against such goods in the said Schedules. Obviously therefore if the concern National Steel Trading Corporation was not a registered dealer, exemption cannot be granted. The assessee's stand is that it acted on the representations of the said concern. It is submitted that there is no dispute that it had valid registration from June 22, 1987 and in the sales bill registration certificate number shown was 24121411. Date of cancellation of the registration is not within the knowledge of the assessee to take any precautionary measure. It was also urged before the authorities that at the time of purchase, registration was in currency and subsequent cancellation cannot justify denial of claim.
6. In order to prove the claim of exemption as the second or subsequent sale in respect of a commodity which is taxable at the point of first sale, a burden is cast on the assessee to produce sale bill of a registered dealer within the State. No material was produced to show that dealer was registered beyond 1989-90. The burden cast on the assessee who claims exemption has not been discharged to prove that purchase was from a registered dealer. It is not a case of retrospective cancellation, as contended by the assessee. In fact, Section 14(5) of the Act provides that a certificate issued is valid for one year and is required to be renewed from year to year and on renewal continues to be valid. In other words, renewal being an annual feature, it has to be established by the assessee claiming exemption that during the point of time the transaction took place, the seller was a registered dealer. On the facts we find that same had not been established. Reference to the Certificate of Registration (page 171 of assessment records, as observed by Tribunal) does not show any renewal for the year in question, i.e., 1992-93. Its conclusions, therefore, are not in order. The assessee was not entitled to the exemption.
Revision application is allowed.