PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF MADRAS Vs. J S BASAPPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment will dispose of Civil Appeals Nos. 494 to 496 of 1962. The State of Andhra Pradesh which now stands substituted for the Provincial Government of Madras is the appellant. The respondent is one J. S. Basappa, a groundnut-oil merchant of Kurnool who was selling oil within the province and also exported it to extra-Provincial points. These three appeals concern sales-tax for the year 1944-45, 1945-46, and 1946-47. They arise out of three suits filed by Basappa against the Provincial Government of Madras now represented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the details of which are given below.

(2.) For the year 1944-45, Basappa was assessed to sales tax amounting to Rs. 12,983-2-2 of which according to him, a sum of Rs. 1,594-1-5 only represented sales within the Province. He claimed that the remaining sales took place outside the Province of Madras. He submitted that property in the goods remained with him till the export of the goods to an extra-Provincial point and till payment of price after export. He claimed that these sales could not be included in his turnover under the Madras General Sales Tax. Act 1939 (Act No. IX of 1939) and sales-tax was wrongly demanded from him. In respect of this assessment, he filed O. S. No. 14 of 1950 (original No. O. S. 40 of 1949) in the Court of the Subordinate Judge, Kurnool for refund of Rs. 11,389-0-9. The Madras State Government in a written statement traversed all the allegations and stated that delivery of the goods was made in Kurnool when the goods were booked and further that the goods were despatched at buyer's risk and remained at buyer's risk thoughout. It also contended that the notice under S. 80 was not proper and the suit was not in accordance with the notice and was not maintainable because the orders under the Sales Tax Act were made final by S. 11 (4) of the Sales Tax Act and because Basappa had not exhausted his other remedies under the Sales Tax Act. Lastly, it contended that the suit was barred by time not having been filed within six months from the date of the act complained of as required by S. 18 of the Sales-tax Act or within one year as required by Art. 16 of the Indian Limitation Act.

(3.) In respect of the year 1945-46, Basappa filed O. S. No. 44 of 1949 claiming a refund of Rs. 8,356/- on similar grounds, and in respect of the year 1946-47 he filed O. S. No.23 of 1949 for a declaration that the levy of Rs. 9,233-6-7 was illegal and without jurisdiction and for a permanent injunction to restrain the taxing authority from collecting the tax. In this suit, in addition to the defences also taken in the other suits it was contended that the suit was incompetent as a revision application was pending with the Board of Revenue.