Dalveer Bhandari JUDGMENT
Ashok Bhan, J.
1. Civil Appeal Nos. 2653 and 2654 of 2006 are directed against the impugned final judgment dated 7.4.2006 of Kerala High Court at Ernakulam in Writ Appeal No. 434 of 2000 and Writ Appeal No. 433 of 2000 by which the Division Bench dismissed the writ appeals thereby upholding the order of the Single Judge, rejected the challenge to the two show cause notices issued to the appellant. Civil Appeal No. 4406 is arising out of judgment dated 7.7.2006 of the Kerala High Court in Sales Tax Revision No. 9 of 2006 by which the Division Bench dismissed the Revision relying upon the judgment of the Division Bench in Writ Appeal No. 434 of 2000 of the same High Court. We propose to dispose of these appeals by a common order, as the point involved in all these appeals is the same.
2. Facts are taken from Civil Appeal No. 2653 of 2006.
FACTS
The appellant is a company registered under the Companies Act, having its Registered Office at Kozhkkode. It is a registered dealer under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 (for short 'the State Act'). It carried on the business of steel re-rolling mills at Nallalam, Kozhikode. The raw material used by the appellant in the production of bars and rods, is steel ingots, which the appellant either manufactures or purchases from other manufacturers from within or outside the State. Purchase of steel ingots effected by the appellant within the State are from manufacturing units, which are exempt from the payment of sales tax on the sale of such ingots by virtue of an exemption notification issued under Section 10 of the State Act. For the Assessment Year 1994-95, appellant submitted a return of turnover and was assessed to tax declaring the taxable turnover at nil, by an order dated 15.1.1998 by the assessing officer. In respect of the assessment year 1995-96 also, the appellant's assessment was completed determining the taxable turnover at Rs. 21,85,550/- vide order dated 15.1.1998. While this was so, the appellant received a show cause notice dated 11.1.2000 for the assessment year 1994-95 and another notice dated 12.1.2000 on the same date for the assessment years 1996-97 to 1999-2000. In the first show cause notice relating to the assessment year 1994-95, the assessing officer stated that the appellant had purchased ingots from dealers within the State who were exempted from payment of tax and consumed the same in the manufacture of bars and rods during the year 1994-95. The notice further stated that the ingots purchased were goods liable to tax under the State Act and since the supply of such ingots did not suffer any tax at the time of sale due to the exemption notification under Section 10(1) of the State Act, purchase turnover of the ingots during the year and consumed in the manufacture by the appellant attracted liability to tax under Section 5A of the State Act. The notice alleged that the purchase turnover of the ingots had escaped assessment under Section 5A of the