PRABHAT TIMBER DEPOT Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this batch of writ petitions the main question for consideration is whether entry 145 of the First Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act (referred to in this judgment as the Act) is ultra vires and unconstitutional.

(2.) It is sufficient to state the facts in Writ Petition No. 3417 of 1977 in order to deal with the contentions raised by the petitioners in these writ petitions.

(3.) The petitioners in these writ petitions are dealers in timber. They usually purchase logs of timber from the forest department, saw or cut them into planks, rafters, beams, etc., and sell them. Under entry 63 of the First Schedule to the Act, sales tax is leviable on timber at the point of first sale by a dealer in the State. The commercial tax department took the view that the forest department was not a "dealer" and they were, therefore, levying tax on the sales effected by the persons, who purchased timber from the forest department and sold the same on the ground that they were first sales by dealers. In Vajhala Venkata Ramana v. State of Andhra Pradesh ([1973] 31 S.T.C. 55.) this Court held that the forest department was a "dealer" and hence the sale by it must be considered to be the first sale liable to tax. This view was upheld by the Supreme Court on appeal.