TMI Blog1956 (1) TMI 21X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ance (Sales Tax) Act of 1941 as extended to the State of Delhi, and that the transactions carried out by him do not fall within the meaning of the term "sale". In a similar case, civil writ No. 174-D of 1954, decided by me on the 12th of October, 1954, I held that a writ petition on this point should not be entertained because the petitioner firm had not exhausted its remedies under sections 20 and 21 of the Act. Sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 20 provide for appeal to the Commissioner of Sales Tax against an assessment order and sub-section (3) provides for revision by the Chief Commissioner of any order passed under the Act either suo mottu or on an application to him. Section 21 contains provisions similar in essence to those of se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed the provisions of the Indian Sale of Goods Act of 1930 and provided that "the sale of any goods which are actually in the Central Provinces and Berar at the time when the contract of sale as defined in that Act in respect thereof is made, shall, wherever the said contract of sale is made, be deemed for the purpose of this Act to have taken place in the Central Provinces and Berar." Under this provision the firm had paid the tax for some years, but it declined to do so for the quarter ending the 31st of March, 1951, and, apprehending that steps would be taken by the authorities to realise the tax, the firm filed a writ petition in the High Court at Nagpur seeking protection from the enforcement of the Act on the ground that the above-ment ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pellant if it failed to make the return or to meet the demand and in order to escape from such serious consequences threatened without authority of law, and infringing fundamental rights, relief by way of a writ of mandamus was clearly the appropriate relief. In Mohd. Yasin v. The Town Area Committee(1), it was held by this Court that a licence fee on a business not only takes away the property of the licensee but also operates as a restriction on his fundamental right to carry on his business and therefore if the imposition of a licence fee is without authority of law it can be challenged by way of an application under Article 32, a fortiori also under Article 226. These observations have apposite application to the circumstances of the pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aises the point that the transactions on which the tax is sought to be levied do not fall within the definition of the word "sale", is entitled to take the short cut of coming to the High Court with a petition under Article 226 instead of exhausting the remedies provided in the Act, particularly when these remedies are of comprehensive character like the remedies provided in the Delhi Act. (1) [1952] S.C.R. 572. (2) [1953] 4 S.T.C. 133; [1953] S.C.R. 1069. In the present case the petition contains no allegation whatever that any fundamental right of the petitioner has been infringed, and the Delhi Act apparently differs from the Madhya Pradesh Act, at any rate on the point that in connection with an appeal filed under section 20(1) all ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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