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2020 (2) TMI 375 - SC - VAT and Sales TaxSales tax exemption or deferral of sales tax - Section 6 of the Karnataka Sales Tax Act, 1957 - HELD THAT:- Acquisition is the act by which a person acquires property in a thing. "Acquire" is to become the owner of the property. One can, therefore, acquire a property either by voluntary or involuntary transfer. But the Sales Tax Act applies only to "sale" as defined in the Act. Under clause (ff) of Section 2 of the Act it is defied as a transfer of property. As purchase is only a different, aspect of sale, looked at from the stand point of the purchaser, and as the Act imposes tax at different points in respect of sales, having regard to the purpose of the sale, it is unreasonable to assume that the Legislature contemplated different categories of transactions when the taxable event is at the purchase point. Whether it is sale or purchase the transaction is the same. If it was a transfer inter vivos, in the case of a sale, it must equally be so in the case of a purchase. Context, consistency and avoidance of anomaly demand a restricted meaning. That it must only mean transfer is also made clear by the nature of the transactions excluded from the acquisition, namely, mortgage, hypothecation, charge or pledge-all of them belong to the species of transfer. We must, therefore, hold that the expression "acquisition" in clause (ff) of Section 2 of the Act means only "transfer". The fact remains that the appellant, after recall of the entire decision, participated in the appeal proceedings before the Division Bench and argued the matter on merits. Appeal dismissed - decided against appellant.
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