any purchasing dealer. Section 7(2) provides independent right of any Dealer to obtain registration under the provisions of the CST Act. The said provisions of Section 7(2) of the Act are in two parts which are joined by the words "or" which means independent clauses. In the first category, the Dealer is liable to pay tax under the Sales Tax law of the appropriate State and in the second category, where there is no such law in force in the appropriate State or any part thereof, any dealer having a place of business in the State or part, as the case may be, may, notwithstanding that he is not liable to pay tax under the Act, apply for registration under the Act. Therefore, the liability to pay tax under the provisions of CST fixed on the Seller is not a condition precedent or the only contingency for getting himself registered under the provisions of the CST Act. Even a person, who is only purchasing goods in the inter-State Trade or Commerce, who may not be liable to pay tax under the provisions of CST Act as a Seller can also secure registration under the provisions of the said Act and can continue with it. Even a dealer liable to tax under State Sales Tax law, which may include even new State GST Act, 2017, can obtain registration under CST Act. In the present case, the Assessee, a Cement Company, continues to be liable to pay tax under local TNVAT Act, 2006 if it sells or purchases any of these six goods also. The TNVAT Act also has not been completely repealed but now applies only to these six commodities after 1.7.2017, as per Section 174 of the TNGST Act, 2017.
