ABDULKADER Vs. STO CHANGANACHERRY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a dealer in tobacco - A Licensee - was assessed to sales tax for the assessment year 1952 - 53 on a net turnover of Rs. 3,30253 - 11 - 0 and directed to pay a sales tax of Rs. 28,850 - 10 - 3. The said turnover was inclusive of a sura of Rs. 7/,555 - 7 - 0 which represented the excise duty payable to the Central Government by the warehouse Licensee and which he collected from the petitioner when he sold the goods to him.

(2.) The only question for decision in this petition is whether the petitioner is entitled to have the said sum deducted in calculating his net (taxable) turnover. The provision which is invoked in support of the contention is R.7(1)(i) of the T-C General Sales Tax Rules, 1950 which provides that in determining the net turnover the excise duty, if any, paid by the dealer to ...... the Central Government in respect of the goods sold by him shall be deducted from his gross turnover.

(3.) It is impossible to say that the sum of Rs. 77,555 - 7 - 0 paid by the petitioner to the Warehouse Licensee along with the price of the tobacco purchased by him is excise duty paid by him to the Central Government. The liability to pay excise duty is not of the petitioner but of the person who produces, cures or manufactures any excisable goods or who stores such goods in a warehouse. This is clear from the Central Excise Rules, 1944, which provides: