In the History of this Association, the month of November has special significance. It was on the 17th November, 1951 that the Association was formed by a few practitioners then in practice. Initially it was a forum for discussion and exchange of thoughts on the problems faced by them. The Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1946, was then in force. The State was known as "The State of Bombay" till first May 1960. The 1946 Act came to be amended by the Ordinance No. II of 1952 by which time the Association was formed.

From 1st April 1954, the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1953 was implemented and with that enactment commenced the multiplicity of litigations that lead to activities in the department becoming hectic. That also resulted in the enrolment of several new professionals. Under the 1953 Act, amongst others, the claim of set-off in Form No. 12 with the return was the subject matter of several legal battles right up to High Court.

Such a scenario paved the necessity of having a journal of our own. Shri N.C. Mehta our doyen in the profession started a journal then in the cyclostyled form, which was later on published in the present day format of printed "Sales Tax Review".

The above events are recalled herein only with a view to emphasize the unparalleled role played by the month of November in moulding the activities of this Association.

The BST Act, 1959 that replaced 1953 Act, was brought into force from 1st January, 1960 and continued till 31st March, 2005. Thus the said Act had the longest duration of validity in the arena of Indirect Taxation. Many of the problems that arose in the said Act came to be settled by the High Court, Supreme Court on several occasions through ordinance promulgated on some odd days of the month, some time effective from 5.00 p.m. of the month in which the Amendment was passed.

With the increase in the number of members consequent to the multifold rise in the number of dealers, a representation was made to the then Finance Minister, Shri. S.K. Wankhede, being a lawyer by profession, he readily appreciated the requirement of the Association and saw to it that we moved to a larger area. It was due to his efforts our Association was allotted the present day premises with the understanding that half of the area would be kept open for public to be used as waiting room. That understanding has been honoured by the Association till today. With the above support and encouragement of succeeding Finance Ministers coupled with wholehearted cooperation received from the Commissioners, the number of activities undertaken by the Association also rose appreciably.

All such activities could be successfully carried out because of solid foundation that was laid by my predecessors in office. The entire credit for the present day status enjoyed by the Association goes to those past leaders who strenuously worked despite the non availability of present day infrastructure of Xerox, fax, internet, mobile phone, offset printing etc.

With a view to recognise such dedicated services the present Managing Committee decided to felicitate all those in profession who have attained the age of 70 plus.

A detailed report of the multipurpose function arranged on 17th November, 2006 would be published in the next issue of this Journal but suffice it to mention herein that Hon’ble

Mr. Justice H.L. Gokhale of Bombay High Court and Hon’ble President of the Maharashtra Sales Tax Tribunal, Shri G.D. Parekh publicly acclaimed the yeoman services rendered by the Association through its varied educative programmes.

Turning to other activities undertaken during the month the inauguration of the coaching classes was done by Shri R.S. Pathak one of our Past Presidents on 6th November, 2006. He encouraged all the participants in his specialised manner and urged upon them to follow the truthfulness throughout their life.

Yet one more seminar was successfully arranged on the subjects relating to co-operative societies with the co-operation of other four professional Associations. The same was inaugurated by yet another doyen in the profession Shri B.C. Joshi who acclaimed the joint efforts made by all the five Associations. He hoped that the healthy atmosphere of co-operation that prevailed in the profession would continue in future as well without being disturbed by some passing aberrations.

While concluding, I would refer to yet another regular feature of holding our next RRC at Khajuraho. For the benefits of larger number of participants we have arranged for the additional accommodations in another hotel of equal status.

I look forward to welcome all the participants at Khajuraho.

Tushar P. Joshi
President