AHMED KHAN AND SONS Vs. COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner No. 1 is a partnership firm of which the petitioners Nos. 2 and 3 are partners. The partnership business is carried on under the name and style of M/s. Ahmed Khan and Sons at No. 22, Zakaria Street, Calcutta. The business of the firm is mainly export of hookah tobacco paste to Middle East countries. The petitioners for the purpose of their export business purchase substantial quantities of containers, wooden boxes, polythene papers and other packing materials in which the paste is packed for export.

(2.) There is no dispute that tobacco for hookah exported by the petitioners is exempt from sales tax by virtue of Section 6(1) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 (hereinafter described as the Act), as it comes within item 18 of Schedule I to the said Act. There is also no dispute that the petitioner is a "dealer" as defined in Section 2(c) of the Act as it carries on business of selling goods in West Bengal or of purchasing goods in West Bengal for execution of contracts. It should be noted in this connection that the tobacco paste sold by the petitioners is not manufactured by them. The petitioners buy tobacco paste manufactured by others for the purpose of selling.

(3.) Section 4 of the Act is the charging section. Every dealer whose gross turnover exceeds the taxable quantum in a year has been made liable to pay tax on all sales effected after the notified date. Section 4(6) has defined "taxable quantum" and is as under: