COCHIN COAL CO. Vs. STATE OF MADRAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE appeals arise out of three suits brought by the same plaintiff (a company called the Cochin Coal Company Ltd.) against the -State of Madras for the refund of sales tax collected for the years ending 31st March, 1946, 31st March, 1947 and 31st March, 1948, under the provisions of the Madras General Sales Tax Act. The suits, O. S. Nos. 41, 42 and 53 of 1950 on the file of the Subordinate Judge's Court, Kozhikode, were decreed by that Court (excepting to a very small extent which may be ignored), the contention of the plaintiff that the sales on which the tax was assessed and collected took place, not within the Province of Madras but within the Indian State of Cochin, being upheld. (All references to territorial units will be in accordance with the state of affairs prevailing at the time). The State has appealed. A. S. No. 651 of 1954 (withdrawn to the High Court from the District Court, South Malabar, where it was A. S. No. 4 of 1953) is its appeal from O. S. No. 41; A. S. No. 348 of 3953 its appeal from O. S. No. 42, and A. S. No. 349 of 1953, from O. S. No. 53.

(2.) THE only question in the appeals is whether the sales in question took place in the Indian State of Cochin as contended by the plaintiff or in the District of Malabar in the Province of Madras as contended by the defendant.

(3.) THE evidence adduced by the plaintiff which stands uncontroverted and which has been accepted by the Court below shows, that with regard to F. O. R. sales, delivery in execution of the contract is effected straight from the steamer in which the coal is brought into wagons drawn up on the railway siding alongside the jetty (called the B T. Jetty) to which the steamer is moored. The railway siding, the jetty, and the water in which the steamer stands, are all located in Willingdon Island which forms part of the territory of the State of Cochin.