1962 (1) TMI 35

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..... he Assam Sales Tax Act, 1947 (Act XVII of 1947) by section 2 of the Assam Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1960 (Act XIII of 1960) by which sub-section (b) of item (i) of sub-clause (b) of clause (1) was deleted and thereby sales of goods to a registered dealer intended for use in production of goods for sale became liable to sales tax.   The appellant company is a limited company carrying on in the State of Assam its business of manufacturing, selling and supplying iron and steel materials. It held a registration certificate under the Assam Sales Tax Act. as it was before the amendment of 1960. Under that Act all its purchases for use in manufacture or production of goods taxable under the Act were exempt from sales tax but after the amend .....

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..... ir of any movable property or of any building, road, bridge or other immovable property, or   (b) the installation or repair of any machinery affixed to a building or other immovable property."   Section 9 of that Act provides for compulsory registration.   Section 12 provides that a dealer registered under section 9 shall be granted a certificate of registration which shall specify the class or classes of goods in which the said dealer carries on business, and such other particulars as may be prescribed. Section 15(1)(b)(i)(b) and (c) deals with exemptions. It reads:   "15. The net turnover shall be determined by deducting from a dealer's gross turnover during any given period-   (1) his turnover during that p .....

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..... in the State. It is for the Legislature to decide as to what articles it should tax and what articles it should not tax and if it decided to tax certain articles in order to effectuate its policy it is difficult to see how that would introduce discrimination. But it was argued that discrimination is introduced by differentiating between materials bought for articles to be supplied against a contract and articles produced and sold by the petitioner and that this was not a reasonable classification nor was there any intelligible differentia in this classification. In our opinion, this argument is without force. The Legislature, having chosen the articles on which it thinks necessary to impose a tax, has decided to impose the tax and it is di .....

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