TMI Blog1965 (12) TMI 129X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessment falling within the years from 1st January, 1953, to 31st March, 1961. 3.. Miscellaneous Petitions Nos. 338, 344 and 371 of 1963, Nos. 450 and 616 of 1964, and Nos. 14 and 15 of 1965 have been filed by the Amalgamated Coalfields Ltd., and relate to the periods of assessment covered by the financial years 1954 to 1961. The Pench Valley Coal Co., Ltd. has also filed seven petitions concerning the same periods of assessment, and they are Miscellaneous Petitions Nos. 372, 373 and 374 of 1963, Nos. 453 and 571 of 1964, and Nos. 12 and 13 of 1965. The three petitions, namely, Miscellaneous Petitions Nos. 60, 74 and 111 of 1965, of the Rewa Coalfields Ltd. relate to the periods 1957-58, 1958-59 and from 1st April, 1959, to 31st December, 1959. The remaining three petitions of the Jhagrakhand Collieries Private Ltd. concern assessments for the calendar years 1953, 1955 and 1956. In these petitions, the directors and the shareholders of the four companies have also been joined as petitioners. The petitionercompanies carry on the business of mining coal from their collieries and supplying it to consumers in and outside the State of Madhya Pradesh. They are "registered dealers" un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e present cases were similar and identical with the transactions dealt with by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in the case of Singareni Collieries. 5.. The assessees have preferred appeals against the orders of assessment before the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax, Jabalpur. Those appeals have not yet been admitted as the assessees have not deposited one-third amount of the tax assessed. It has been averred by the petitioner-companies that they are not in a position to comply with the demand of deposit of one-third of the tax amount made by the authorities, as they did not recover during the years in question any sales tax from the outside allottees and in the normal working of the companies no financial adjustment can now be made for meeting the demand. The assessees have, therefore, filed these petitions under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution praying for writs to quash the assessment orders of the taxing authorities imposing sales tax against them, and for consequential reliefs preventing the levy and collection of that tax. 6.. The decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in The Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. v. State of Andhra Pradesh[1961] 12 S.T.C. 765., on which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , learned counsel for the petitioners, did not think it necessary to urge before us the contention that there was no sale by the assessees of coal despatched by them to the Railway Administrations and other persons in compliance with the directions issued by the Coal Controller in exercise of the authority under the Colliery Control Order, 1945. For the purposes of these petitions, he assumed that compliance with the allotment orders issued by the Coal Controller resulted in contracts of sale, and contended that the procedure of sale in the cases before us being exactly the same as in the case of Singareni Collieries, therefore, as held by the Supreme Court in Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. v. State of Andhra PradeshCivil Appeals Nos. 950-952 of 1963, decided on 12th October, 1965; [1966] 17 S.T.C. 197. , the assessees could not be made liable for payment of any sales tax under the C.P. and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947, and the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958, on the price of coal supplied to allottees outside the State of Madhya Pradesh pursuant to directions of the Coal Controller issued under the Colliery Control Order, 1945. Learned counsel pointed out that the Additional Assistan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... espondents said that if the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. fully concluded the common question arising in these petitions, then there was no point in asking the assessees to seek the relief of having the assessment orders quashed by the appellate authority in the appeals they have preferred. Learned Attorney-General did not say that the transactions of despatches of coal in the cases before us differed from those dealt with by the Supreme Court in the case of Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. He, however, commended to us for acceptance the argument that in the case of coal supplied by the assessees to the railways owned by the Central Government, there was actual delivery of coal at the basestation in the State where coal was loaded into wagons inasmuch as the railways and the wagons belonged to Government; that being so, the subsequent transport of coal outside the State for consumption could not bring the sales within the terms of the Explanation to Article 286(1); that the said Explanation would have been attracted only if coal had been, as a direct result of sale transactions, delivered outside the State for purposes of consumption in the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erson to whom coal was supplied could utilise it for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was supplied to him; nor could he dispose of that coal. It is also very important to note that under clause 12E no colliery owner could despatch or agree to despatch or transport any coal from the colliery except under the authority and in accordance with the conditions contained in a general or special authority of the Central Government. The various documents, which were filed by the assessees before the taxing officers to illustrate the manner of sale, disposal and despatches of coal by them to Railway Administrations at various destinations outside the State of Madhya Pradesh and to other buyers outside the State, leave no doubt that coal, on the price of which the assesseecompanies were taxed, was actually delivered to allottees outside the State for the purpose of consumption in the States where they carried on business or resided, and the movement of coal from the State of Madhya Pradesh to places outside that State was occasioned by the contracts of sales and the allotment orders issued by the Coal Commissioner or Controller in the exercise of his powers under the Colliery Con ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of despatches of coal in the present cases were similar to those existing in the case of Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. But he relied on the decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in The Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. v. The State of Andhra Pradesh[1961] 12 S.T.C. 765., which was reversed by the Supreme Court at a date later than when orders of assessment were made. Learned Attorney-General did not suggest that the facts of the present cases were materially different from those found in the case of Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. v. The State of Andhra Pradesh[1961] 12 S.T.C. 765.That being so, the present cases are fully governed by the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. As stated earlier, the Supreme Court has held in the case of Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd.(1), that the transactions of supply of coal by the Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. outside the limits of the State of Andhra Pradesh under orders of the Coal Commissioner, made in the exercise of his powers under the Colliery Control Order, 1945, were inter-State sales and coal was transported from the colliery to consumers outside the taxing State as a result of a covenant or incident o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2A, in the First List of the Seventh Schedule and amended Entry 54 of the State List. In exercise of this power, Parliament enacted the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, which came into force from 5th January, 1957. Section 3 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, lays down that"3. A sale or purchase of goods shall be deemed to take place in the course of inter-State trade or commerce if the sale or purchase- (a) occasions the movement of goods from one State to another; or (b) is effected by a transfer of documents of title to the goods during their movement from one State to another. * * * *" It has been held by the Supreme Court in Cement Marketing Co. v. State of Mysore[1963] 14 S.T.C. 175. and State Trading Corporation v. State of Mysore[1963] 14 S.T.C. 188., that a sale occasions the movement of goods from one State to another within section 3(a) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, when the movement "is the result of a covenant or incident of the contract of sale". Here the movement of coal from the State of Madhya Pradesh to allottees outside the State was occasioned by the contracts of sales and the allotment orders issued by the Coal Controller in exercise of his powers ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r, something to show that it would be a case of palpable injustice to the assessee to force him to adopt the remedies" provided by the Sales Tax Act, the relief of the issue of a writ of certiorari cannot be refused on the ground that the aggrieved assessee should have availed himself of the alternative remedy of appeal. Here, the levy of sales tax on the assessee-companies on the transactions of coal despatches outside the State of Madhya Pradesh is manifestly without jurisdiction and illegal. That being so, it would not be right to compel the petitioners to pursue the appeals they have filed for having the assessments made against them quashed. 13.. For these reasons, all these applications are allowed. The orders of assessment passed against the four assessee-companies, in so far as they levy sales tax (on outside sales) under the C.P. and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947, and the M.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1958, amounting to (i) Rs. 3,38,380-5-6 for the assessment year 1955-56 in M.P. No. 338 of 1963, (ii) Rs. 3,80,964-9-4 for the assessment year 1956-57 in M.P. No. 344 of 1963, (iii) Rs. 2,95,137-12-0 for the assessment year 1954-55 in M.P. No. 371 of 1963, (iv) Rs. 1,19,100-10-6 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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