GENERAL AGENCIES INDIA LIMITED Vs. SALES TAX OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) -The Constitutional validity of Section 8(2)(b) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (hereinafter to be called the Act of 1956) is the point which has been canvassed in the present writ petition filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) The petitioner is a Limited Company and carrying on the business of, inter alia, manufacturing and sale of steel security, equipment, office furniture and steel items. The petitioner is registered as a dealer under Section 7 of the Act of 1956. For the assessment year 1962-63 (ending March, 1963) respondent No. 3, Shri v. K. Aggarwal. Assistant Sales Tax Officer, Sales Tax Department, finalized the assessment of the petitioner by his order dated 23rd April, 1966. By the said order, the petitioner was assessed to tax on all their interstate sales at the rate of 7 per cent because no C and D forms were produced by the petitioner. A copy of the assessment order has been filed as Annexure 'C' to the petition. This order of respondent No. 3 has been challenged in the present writ petition. One of the grounds for challenging the assessment by respondent No. 3 was that he had not been appointed to perform the functions and duties of an Assistant Sales Tax Officer/Assessing Authority under the Act as he was appointed by the Lt. Governor only by an order dated 26th April, 1968 while he purported to act as an Assistant Sales Tax Oficer/ Assessing Authority on 23rd April 1966, much earlier than the date of order of his appointment. This ground, however, was specifically given up before us at the time of the arguments by the learned counsel for the petitioner Mr. Khanna. This was done apparently because the appointment of respondent No. 3 has been validated by meafls of an Act which was passed validating the appointments of certain officers under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 by the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Delhi Validation of Appointments and Proceedings Act 1971. This ground therefore no longer survives.

(3.) Section 8 of the Act of 1956 for the relevant period provides that every dealer, who in the course of inter-state trade or commerce sells to the Government any goods or sells to a registered dealer other than the Government goods of the description referred to in subsection (3) shall be liable to pay tax under this Act, which shall be (one per cent) of his turnover. Section 8(4) further provides that the provisions of sub-section ( 1 ) shall not apply to any sale in the course of inter-state trade or commerce unless the dealer selling the goods furnishes to the prescribed authority in the prescribed manner a declaration form mentioned in Section 8(4), i.e., C form and form as the case may be. The result is that unless the relevant and D forms are produced by the dealer the transaction cannot come within the meaning of Section 8(1) of the Act.