TMI Blog1956 (8) TMI 35X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be in addition to the tax to which he is liable under sub-section (1) on his total turnover for the year: Description of the goods Rate of tax for every Indian rupee in the turnover relating to such goods. 1 2 (ix) Tobacco Four annas" and rule 6 of the Travancore-Cochin General Sales Tax Rules, 1950: "The sale of any of the goods mentioned in items (i) to (ix) in section 3, sub-section (2), shall be subject to the tax specified in that sub- section at the stage of sale by the person who in the State is the first dealer in such goods, who is not exempt from taxation under section 3(3)". Section 3(3) mentioned in the Rules relates to dealers "whose total turnover in any year is less than ten thousand Indian rupees" and has no application to the present case. 3.. "Tobacco" is defined in section 2(jj) of the Act as including "snuff, cigars, cigarettes, beedies, tobacco powder and other preparations or admixtures of tobacco" and we are concerned in this case only with products which definitely come within the ambit of that definition. By a notification (No. SRI-4789/51/B. RD) dated 18th July, 1951, the rate of tax was reduced from four annas to one and half annas. The notification re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s to our customers and we have no legal control over the goods". We see no reason not to accept this statement or to hold that the property in the goods passed from the company to the petitioner any- where other than at Coimbatore. 7.. We are assured that the procedure followed in railing the goods from Coimbatore to Trivandrum is for the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Ltd., Coimbatore, to take the railway receipts in its own name, then endorse them in favour of the petitioner and post them to his Trivandrum address. There is a full discussion of the cases dealing with the endorsement of railway receipts at pages 37 to 40 of Aggarwala's Commentary on the Indian Sale of Goods Act, 1930. The view that appeals to us is the view expressed in Sheo Prasad v. Dominion of India(1) wherein it is stated: "A railway receipt, therefore, being a mercantile document of title to goods, it is possible to transfer the title in the goods, to the endorsee by mere endorsement. It is, therefore, not possible to accept the contention that a mere endorsement of a railway receipt was not by itself enough to transfer the property in the goods represented by the receipt and the endorsee has to prove al ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ore-Cochin General Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1951 (Act XII of 1951) and reads as follows: "(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act- (a) a tax on the sale or purchase of goods shall not be imposed under this Act- (i) where such sale or purchase takes place outside the State of Travancore Cochin; or (ii) where such sale or purchase takes place in the course of import of the goods into, or export of the goods out of, the territory of India; (b) a tax on the sale or purchase of any goods shall not, after the 31st day of March 1951, be imposed where such sale or purchase takes place in the course of inter-State trade or commerce except in so far as Parliament may by law otherwise provide. (2) The Explanation to clause (1) of Article 286 of the Constitution of India shall apply for the interpretation of sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of sub-section (1)". 10.. The petitioner's contention is that section 26 modifies the concept of sale under the Act and makes the transactions between the Imperial Tobacco Company of India, Ltd., Coimbatore, and the petitioner sales taxable under the Act. Such a contention has apparently been approved by the High Court of Madras in Tax Revision P ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... based upon Article 286 (2) would no longer be applicable. The conditions of the Ordinance are therefore fully satisfied. "Mr. Subbaraya Iyer, learned counsel for the petitioner assessee, drew our attention to a passage in the judgment of the Supreme Court in The Bengal Immunity case(2), where his Lordship the Chief Justice refers to the fact, that in the Bihar Act, the Explanation to Article 286 (1)(a) was introduced, as an Explanation to the definition of 'sale', the argument being that unless this were done, it could not be said that what might be termed 'the Explanation sales' were sales liable to tax under the Sales Tax Act. We are of opinion, that there is no difference in the legal effect achieved by the different methods of drafting adopted in Madras and Bihar. Section 22, with the Explanation of what an 'inside' sale is, must be read as really part of every provision in the Act, and so read, the same result is achieved as in Bihar." (1) [1953] 4 S.T.C. 133. (2) [1955] 6 S.T.C. 446; [1955] 2 S.C.R. 603. 11.. With respect, we are unable to agree. The wording of section 26, as we understand it, provides no warrant for the conclusion that it amplifies any of the provisions o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to be a sale: (1) A.I.R. 1932 P.C. 138. Provided further that the sale of goods in respect of a forward con- tract, whether goods under such contract are actually delivered or not, shall be deemed to have taken place on the date originally agreed upon for delivery: Explanation: The sale of any goods actually delivered in Bihar as a direct result of such sale for the purpose of consumption in Bihar shall be deemed for the purpose of this Act to have taken place in Bihar, notwithstanding the fact that under the general law relating to sale of goods, the property in the goods has, by reason of such sale, passed in another State." 14.. It is agreed that if our conclusion is as stated above it is un- necessary to consider the scope and meaning of the Sales Tax Laws Validation Act, 1956, or of the Sales Tax Laws Validation Ordinance, 1956, which it replaced. It is also unnecessary to consider the contention of the petitioner that K.J. Mathew v. Sales Tax Officer, Alwaye(1), and Kunju Moideen Kunju v. State of Travancore Cochin(2) require reconsideration and of the learned Government Pleader that the words "sale by the person who in the State is the first dealer" occurring in rule 6 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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