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1988 (1) TMI 312 - SC - VAT and Sales TaxWhether section 9 of the Central Sales Tax Act, as it stood at the relevant time that the provision cast a liability to tax only on a registered dealer and not an unregistered dealer like the assessee? Held that:- Appeal dismissed. Clause (b) of section 9(1) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 is operative only from September 7, 1976. The present case is, therefore, governed by the earlier provision and the decision of this Court in Kasturi Lal's case [1987 (8) TMI 397 - SUPREME COURT OF INDIA]. Assuming the correctness of the contention that a purely procedural amendment should ordinarily be construed to be retrospective, we are unable to agree that the present amendment is of such nature. The decision of this Court in Kasturi Lal's case [supra] had held that an unregistered dealer is not taxable under the proviso. The amendment changes this position and imposes a substantive liability on such a dealer. It is also one which confers jurisdiction on an officer in a particular State to levy a tax which he otherwise cannot. It is thus a substantive provision. That apart, even the question whether a charge to tax can be imposed in one State or another is not a mere question of venue. It may have an impact on the rate of tax in certain cases and it also regulates the rights inter se of States to levy taxes on such inter-State sales. It is, therefore, difficult to accept the contention that the amendment should be treated as purely procedural and hence necessarily retrospective.
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