Himachal pradesh act 005 of 1991 : Himachal Pradesh General Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1991

Section 1. Short title and commencement

1. Short title and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called the Himachal Pradesh General Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1991.

(2) It shall come into force with effect from 1st day of April, 1991.

Section 2. Amendment of section 2

2. Amendment of section 2.- In section 2 of the Himachal Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1968 (24 of 1968) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act),-

(a) in clause (p), for the sign ";" occurring at the end, the sign shall be substituted; and

(b) clause (q) shall be omitted.

Section 3. Amendment of section 4

3. Amendment of section 4.- In clause (e) of sub-section (6) of section 4 of the principal Act, for the figures "1,00,000", the figures "3,00,000" shall be substituted.

Section 4. Amendment of section 6

4. Amendment of section 6.- In section 6 of the principal Act, in sub-section (1),-

(a) for the word "seven" the word "ten" shall be substituted; and

(b) in the first proviso, for the figures and word "10 paise" and "of 25 paise", the figures and words "25 paise" and "not exceeding 30 paise" shall, respectively, be substituted.

Section 5. Omission of section 6-A

5. Omission of section 6-A.- Section 6-A of the principal Act, along with its heading, shall be emitted.

Section 6. Amendment of section 8

6. Amendment of section 8.- In sub-section (1) of section 8 of the principal Act, for the sign ";" occurring at the end, the sign shall be substituted and thereafter, the following provisos shall be added, namely:-

"Provided that nothing herein shall apply to a dealer who deals exclusively in such goods on which tax has been proved to have been levied at the first stage of the sale thereof under sub-section (2) of section 6 and that such a dealer is not the first selling dealer in respect of those goods in the State of Himachal Pradesh:

Provided further that the dealer referred to in the preceding proviso maintains proper accounts in respect of his business and possesses and furnishes to the Assessing Authority, the certificate referred to in sub-section (2) of section 6, in the prescribed manner, to the effect that the tax on the sales of such goods has been paid at the first stage of sale thereof."

Section 7. Amendment of section 12

7. Amendment of section 12.- In section 12 of the principal Act,-

(a) in sub-section (6), for the words "not exceeding", occurring after the words "a sum" but before the words "one and a half times", the words and sign "which shall not be less than ten percentum, but which shall not exceed" shall be substituted; and

(b) in sub-section (7), for the words "ten percentum", the words "twenty-five percentum", shall be substituted.

Section 8. Amendment of section 14

8. Amendment of section 14.- In sub-section (6) of section 14 of the principal Act, for the words "not exceeding", the words and sign "which shall not be less than fifteen pcrcentum, but which shall not exceed" shall be substituted.

Section 9. Amendment of section 17-A

9. Amendment of section 17-A.- For sub-section (1) of section 17-A of the principal Act, the following shall be substituted, namely:-

"(1) If any dealer fails to pay the amount of tax due from him under this Act except to the extent mentioned in sub-section (2), he shall, in addition to the amount of tax, be liable to pay simple interest on the amount of tax due and payable by him at the rate of one percentum per month, from the date immediately following the last date on which the dealer should have either filed the return or paid the tax under this Act, for a period of one month and thereafter at the rate of one and a half percentum per month till the default continues."

Section 10. Amendment of section 19

10. Amendment of section 19.- In clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 19 of the principal Act, for the sign and the words, "the purchase tax and the surcharge", the words "and the purchase tax" shall be substituted.

Section 11. Amendment of section 22

11. Amendment of section 22.- In section 22 of the principal Act,-

(a) in sub-sections (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9) and (11) for the words "goods vehicle", at all places wherever they occur, the words "goods carriage" shall be substituted;

(b) in sub-section (4), in the existing first proviso, for the words "two thousand rupees or twenty percentum of the value of the goods whichever is greater", the words "twenty-five percenturn of the value of the goods but which shall not be less than fifteen per centum of the value of the goods" shall be substituted;

(c) in sub-sections (6) and (7), for the words and sign "one thousand rupees or twenty percentum of the value of the goods, whichever is greater", the words "twenty-five percentum of the value of the goods but which shall not be less than fifteen percentum of the value of the goods" shall be substituted; and

(d) in sub-section (11), for the existing Explanation-I, the following shall be substituted, namely:-

"Explanation-I.-In this section the expression "goods carriage" has the same meaning as is assigned to it in clause (14) of section 2 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (59 of 1988), but does not include road transport plying in collaboration with rail transport".

Section 12. Insertion of new section 22-A

12. Insertion of new section 22-A.- After section 22 of the principal Act, the following new section 22-A shall be inserted, namely:-

"22-A. Registration and submission of returns by carrier of goods, agent, of the transport company and booking agency.- (1) For carrying out the purposes of section 22, every carrier of goods, agent of transport company and booking agency having a place of business in the State of Himachal Pradesh and transporting or clearing or forwarding goods on behalf of a dealer, shall be required to obtain a certificate of registration, in the prescribed manner, from the Assessing Authority of the area in which it has a place of business, on payment of such fee as may be prescribed and on furnishing of a security to the satisfaction of the said authority in the manner as may be prescribed.

(2) Every agency, referred to in sub-section (1), shall submit to the Assessing Authority such returns of the goods transported, cleared or forwarded by it, by such dates and in such manner as may be prescribed.

(3) The Assessing Authority shall have the powers to call for and examine the books of accounts, documents and other record in possession of such agency with a view to verifying the correctness of returns submitted and the compliance to the requirements of provisions of section 22".

Section 13. Amendment of section 40

13. Amendment of section 40.- In sub-section (2) of section 40 of the principal Act,-

(a) after clause (d), the following new clause (dd), shall be inserted, namely:-

"(dd) the manner in which the certificate referred to in the second proviso to sub-section (1) of section 8 shall be furnished; and

(b) after clause (n), the following new clause (nn) shall be inserted, namely:-

"(nn) the manner of obtaining and granting the registration certificate, fee to be charged for the same and the manner in which the security is to be furnished under sub-section (1) and also the dates and the manner of furnishing returns under sub-section (2) of section 22-A".