TMI Blog1996 (7) TMI 500X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o the preassessment notices themselves and in some stray instances challenging the very original orders of assessment passed. In many of these writ petitions, the other State Governments to which the assessees claim to have paid sales tax on the very transactions under the respective local Sales Tax Act in force in those States have been impleaded as party respondents and relief in the nature of refund of tax from such State Governments also are incidentally sought for. De hors such variation in the stage at which the proceedings are pending or at which the various assessees approached this Court or the nature of relief sought for, these writ petitions involve a consideration of among other things the scope, purport and effect of section 6A of the CST Act and the legal efficacy and further consequences flowing out of an order passed under sub-section (2) of section 6A of the CST Act. The petitioners have, no doubt, challenged the various proceedings in question not only on the scope and effect of section 6A and the impact of orders passed thereunder by competent assessing authority, but grounds have been raised on merits relating to the nature and character of the transactions them ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and branches which they call as regional sales offices in several parts of the country and it is stated that such offices are an integral part of the sale and distribution system. It is also stated that customers across the country wish to inspect the vehicles, place order and take delivery from the nearest sales office of the company and it would be also unrealistic to expect a customer in one State to buy vehicles from the petitioners in Tamil Nadu without having an opportunity to inspect the vehicles. The terms of sale are said to be ex-factory or ex-regional sales offices and normally the customer will not wait to place order and wait for days to take delivery and to facilitate immediate sale as and when customers approach, stock points were considered by them to be necessary to avoid losing a customer who may likely to switch to another competitor ready to offer immediate delivery. Having regard to the above, it is claimed that it becomes absolutely necessary for every vehicle manufacturer to have stockyard/sales office in every conceivable location to cater to the needs of the nearby market and, therefore, not only petitioners but also other manufacturers such as Telco, Premi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fficers and periodical reports used to be sent on the daily stock position and sale position to the regional sales offices and headquarters. While claiming that at current levels, the annual quantum of vehicles manufactured comes to nearly 20,000 and though several types of vehicles are said to be available, the different models are only to offer a large range of choice to the customers and each of the model is said to be standardised and produced in bulk, coming under the wellknown brand names like Comet, Cheetah, Viking, Taurus, etc. The system of transfer of vehicles for sales to several regional sales offices is said to be a continuous process and the production of vehicles for each year is said to be well planned in advance so as to make necessary arrangements for finance, raw materials, imports, etc. Similarly, according to the petitioners, despatches of vehicles and the distribution at various regions are also programmed, but never for any specific order or customer and the programme is said to be only to provide the respective regional sales offices, such quantum of vehicles which will cater to the demand in the area, or as should be offered to raise the market share in the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s only an additional place of business. The vehicles are said to be covered by policy of insurance for transit up to the regional sales offices and the insurance coverage is said to cover the vehicles remaining at regional sales offices till their sales. The transit losses and storage losses till sale at the regional sales offices are said to be to the account of the petitioner-company only. Concerning the process of selling, it is claimed that the regional sales offices are independent entities and the officers especially trained for the running of such offices used to contact customers and sell the products and as and when the vehicles are sold, such regional offices issue invoice, delivery challan and gate pass which indicate, according to the petitioner, the particular vehicle sold with engine number, chassis number and detailed description of the product. The regional sales offices while invoicing were said to collect also local taxes over and above the listed prices and monies are said to be realised by the regional sales offices and credited to the account of the petitioner at the local banking centres. Funds are periodically said to be transferred by the regional sales of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the movement was to branch or agent and once the position was accepted to be so, thereupon the movement has to be treated as not occasioned by any sale and that section 6A of the CST Act is virtually a declaration of a principle by Parliament under article 269(3) of the Constitution of India and in substance section 6A is nothing but a legislative acceptance of a well-established principle that movement to a buyer under a contract is an interState sale and movement to oneself without reference to a contract is merely a transfer of stock. It is the further contention of the petitioners that the very object of section 6A is to suppress the mischief of lack of co-ordination in adjudication of the matter relating to the inter-State transfers of stocks and once the form F declaration issued in the respective States by the authorities having jurisdiction over the regional sales offices concerned, are filed and accepted by the competent authorities in this State, the issue relating to the character of the transaction becomes final and is no longer open for consideration and that, therefore, the threatened action is not only contrary to law but, unconstitutional and therefore it is liabl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ly where bulk purchases were concerned in order to minimise the locking up of money. It is further stated that M/s. Ashok Leyland Limited and Telco are the two major producers of chassis in the country and the State transport undertakings used to operate through High Power Committees of higher officials in the State and that the manufacturer was to meet such specific orders placed by the various State transport undertakings and the object of reassessment is not to bring to tax all the vehicles manufactured by the companies in the Tamil Nadu, but only those vehicles which are either sold locally in Tamil Nadu or sold in the course of inter-State trade or commerce from Tamil Nadu. The role of the regional sales offices said to be in existence in other States, according to the respondent-State of Tamil Nadu, is more in the nature of a conduit and when there is a conceivable link between the contract of sale and the movement of goods from one State to another, in order to discharge the obligation under the contract of sale, the inter-position of the agent or branch of the seller, who may temporarily intercept the movement will not alter the inter-State character of the sale, inasmuch a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ment or bringing the transaction of the nature in question to tax under the CST Act in this State. 8.. M/s. Ashok Leyland has filed a reply affidavit to the counter-affidavits filed on behalf of the second and third respondents reiterating the stand taken in the affidavit and referring to certain additional materials and details which we think are unnecessary to be referred to in the context of the limited submissions made before us. Some of the other State Governments who are respondents in some of the writ petitions have also filed their counter-affidavits particularly in the writ petition filed by M/s. Ashok Leyland Limited. 9.. The 4th respondent is the State of Gujarat and they have filed a counter in the writ petitions filed by M/s. Ashok Leyland Limited. In the counter, it is contended for the said respondent that the chassis have been imported from various places of the manufacturing units of the petitioners M/s. Ashok Leyland Limited as branch transfers, that branch offices or regional offices in various parts of the State of Gujarat are duly registered as dealers under the local sales tax law, that they have been issued duly with form F declarations which have been ut ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... orders would also go to show that the levy of tax by the State of Maharashtra in respect of the sales effected inside the State on the chassis moved from outside the State under the local sales tax law is quite in accordance with law and cannot be challenged in these proceedings before this Court. 11.. The 10th respondent is the State of Kerala and they have filed a counter-affidavit contending that the petitioners had their office at Thiruvananthapuram up to the assessment year 1988-89 and thereafter are having their office at Cochin and not only they are registered dealers under the local sales tax law in force in Kerala State, but they have regularly submitted their returns and on verification of their accounts, assessments were duly made and the sales tax collected on their transactions inside the Kerala State. The further plea taken was that the petitioners have maintained stock registers and other books of account to record the vehicles received, the vehicles delivered and sold in addition to the delivery challans, sale invoices, etc., made at the regional sales office inside the Kerala State and that such records disclosed that the vehicles have been received as general go ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate Road Transport Corporation usually buys a chassis and hands it over to the contractor to build the body and the body-builders of the APSRTC are spread across the country and are situated at Hyderabad, Jamshedpur, Pollachi, Daman, etc., and it has been the policy of the APSRTC to effect purchases of most of the chassis required by them from the regional sales offices situated at Pondicherry, Goa, etc., and this was done keeping in view of the nearest sale points to the body builders. This respondent further contends that misconstruing some communications from the APSRTC, the authorities in the State of Tamil Nadu are trying to treat the sales which were effected as local sales inside the State of Andhra Pradesh as inter-State sales and no such presumption could be made generally violating the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in a catena of judgments to decide as to when a sale constitutes an inter-State sale. It is contended that all the correspondence available with the authorities of the State as also with the APSRTC have been shown to the officers and the contention of the State of Tamil Nadu to make a claim generalising all the sales effected to the APSRTC as inter- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at places in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, have their head office at Madras and regional offices in several States including Union Territory of Pondicherry, that after the chassis are manufactured, they are sent to the various regional sales offices for sale on stock transfer basis and stocks transferred likewise into the Union Territory of Pondicherry had been sold and goods delivered and appropriated only within the territorial limits of Pondicherry and it is only in respect of such transactions, levies both under the Pondicherry General Sales Tax Act and the Central Sales Tax Act have been made and tax collected and that there is no infirmity or illegality involved in the said levy or collection of taxes and the contentions to the contrary cannot be sustained. It is also contended that the petitioners" regional office has also infrastructural facilities to handle the vehicle and they have been registered as dealers both under the local sales tax law and the Central Sales Tax Act within the territory of Pondicherry under the respective assessing officers and, therefore, there is no scope for reopening the assessment made earlier by the authorities of the State of Pondich ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was for accepting or rejecting the declaration in affirmation or negation of the claim based on the character of the movement. The further submission of the learned Senior Counsel was that in the absence of an express provision in the CST Act itself, empowering the assessing authority to review or cancel or revoke or go behind that order passed under section 6A(2) of the CST Act, accepting the declaration with regard to the goods covered by form F, the character of the transaction that the movement outside the State of Tamil Nadu was otherwise than as a result of sale becomes final and the assessing authority becomes functus officio vis-a-vis the determination of the character of the transaction. Pursuing the said line of submission, it was also contended that if a transaction goes outside the scope of the CST Act by a positive order of acceptance made under section 6A(2) of the CST Act, even the provisions relating to revision under section 32 of the TNGST Act will not be attracted at the instance of the Revenue though for an assessee, by virtue of section 9(2) of the TNGST Act the remedies available under section 33 of the TNGST Act would be available. The decision rendered under ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... all powers for assessment, reassessment and other avenues of related remedies and consequently section 16 of the TNGST Act can be invoked to bring to assessment a transaction erroneously considered to be exempt from taxation under the CST Act. The assessment by the other States treating the sales effected as local sales attracting liability under their respective State tax laws, according to the learned Additional Government Pleader, is not the concern of the State of Tamil Nadu. The further stand taken was that section 6A of the CST Act does not create any fiction but only amounts to re-emphasising the factual position and the inference to be drawn from the materials placed and the inference or presumption being always a rebuttable one and there is no such thing as irrebuttable presumption in a tax law. It was also contended for the State of Tamil Nadu that at any rate, the proceedings recorded under section 6A(2) of the CST Act can if at all be given finality only subject to the provisions of the Act and the power of the assessing authority or the revisional authority such as sections 16, 32 and 34 of the TNGST Act to reassess or revise any order, of course, subject to the perio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e a law with respect to matters enumerated in entry 54 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution and the framers of the Constitution forged a fetter on the basis of situs to cure the mischief of multiple taxation by the States founded on the theory of territorial nexus with one or other ingredients or elements of sale and consequently except in so far as Parliament may by law provide otherwise no State law can impose or authorise the imposition of any tax on sales or purchases when such sales or purchases take place in the course of inter-State trade or commerce. The court also held that article 286(1)(a) has the effect of shifting the situs of a sale or purchase from its actual situs under the general law to a fictional situs and thereby power of all States other than the State where the situs is fictionally fixed, to tax is taken away. Then came the CST Act, with the object of formulating the principles for determining when a sale or purchase of goods takes place in the course of inter-State trade or commerce or outside a State or in the course of import into or export outside India and to provide for levy, collection and distributing taxes and also specify the restr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reported in [1995] 96 STC 98 (A. Dhandapani v. State of Tamil Nadu). Though the thrust of attack was on the validity of certain rules framed as part of the Central Sales Tax (Tamil Nadu) Rules, 1957, the Division Bench analysed the scheme underlying section 6A and its object and observed as follows: "As already pointed out, as per section 6A of the Act, burden is upon the dealer to establish that the transfer of goods was otherwise than by way of sale. For this purpose, form F is prescribed. The dealer, apart from producing form F, if he chooses to adopt the course prescribed under section 6A of the CST Act, along with form F he is required to produce evidence of despatch of such goods. No doubt sub-section (2) of section 6A of the CST Act empowers the assessing authority to hold such inquiry as he may deem necessary, but such inquiry shall have to be confined to determine as to whether the particulars contained in the declaration furnished in form F by the dealer are true. Such an inquiry can be held at any time by the assessing authority either before or at the time of the assessment of the tax payable by the dealer under the CST Act. On the basis of such inquiry the assessin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... table presumption in that behalf would be a rule of evidence. On the other hand, if fact A is inherently not relevant in proving the existence of fact B or has no probative value in that behalf and yet a rule is made prescribing for a rebuttable or an irrebuttable presumption in that connection, that rule would be a rule of substantive law and not a rule of evidence. Therefore, in dealing with the question as to whether a given rule prescribing a conclusive presumption is a rule of evidence or not, we cannot adopt the view that all rules prescribing irrebuttable presumptions are rules of substantive law. We can answer the question only after examining the rule and its impact on the proof of facts A and B. If this is the proper test, it would become necessary to enquire whether obtaining a passport from a foreign Government is or is not inherently relevant in proving the voluntary acquisition of the citizenship of that foreign State." 23.. While construing the deeming provision enacted in section 5(3) of the CST Act, the apex Court in the decision reported in [1980] 46 STC 164 (Consolidated Coffee Ltd. v. Coffee Board, Bangalore) observed as hereunder: "It is not possible to accep ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the penultimate sale shall also be regarded as being in the course of such export. In other words, no legal fiction is created. Moreover, it was conceded by the counsel that the word 'deemed' in sections 3, 4 and 5(1) laid down general principles and did not create any fiction; if that be so, it is difficult to accept the contention that in sub-section (3) the same word should be construed as creating a fiction. Thirdly, a principle has been explained in Butterworths' Words and Phrases, Second Edition, Volume 4, at page 177, thus: 'A "principle" means a general guiding rule, and does not include specific directions, which vary according to the subject-matter' (per Shearman, J. in M' Creagh v. Frearson 1922 WN 39). Similarly in Words and Phrases, Permanent Edition, Volume 33A, at page 327, it is explained that 'principle means a general law or rule adopted or professed as a guide to action'. In other words, as opposed to any specific direction governing any particular or specific instance, transaction or situation a principle would be a guiding rule applicable generally to cases or class of cases. Looked at from this angle it will be clear that sub-section (3) of section 5 for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... viates the production of any other evidence to dislodge the conclusion to be drawn on proof of certain facts. But when it is rebuttable it only points out the party on whom lies the duty of going forward with evidence on the fact presumed, and when that party has produced evidence fairly and reasonably tending to show that the real fact is not as presumed the purpose of presumption is over. Then the evidence will determine the true nature of the fact to be established. The rules of presumption are deduced from enlightened human knowledge and experience and are drawn from the connection, relation and coincidence of facts and circumstances. In our opinion, a statutory provision which creates a rebuttable presumption as regards the proof of a set of circumstances which would make a transaction liable to tax with the object of preventing evasion of the tax cannot be considered as conferring on the authority concerned the power to levy a tax which the Legislature cannot otherwise levy. A rebuttable presumption which is clearly a rule of evidence has the effect of shifting the burden of proof and it is hard to see how it is unconstitutional when the person concerned has the opportunity ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... IR 1963 SC 151 (Smt. Somawanti v. State of Punjab) dealing with a case under the Land Acquisition Act, it was observed, thus: "Since evidence means and includes all statements which the court permits or requires to be made, when the law says that a particular kind of evidence would be conclusive as to the existence of a particular fact it implies that that fact can be proved either by that evidence or by some other evidence which the court permits or requires to be advanced. Where such other evidence is adduced it would be open to the court to consider whether, upon that evidence, the fact exists or not. Where, on the other hand, evidence which is made conclusive is adduced, the court has no option but to hold that the fact exists. If that were not so, it would be meaningless to call a particular piece of evidence as conclusive evidence. Once the law says that certain evidence is conclusive it shuts out any other evidence which would detract from the conclusiveness of that evidence. In substance, therefore, there is no difference between conclusive evidence and conclusive proof. Statutes may use the expression conclusive proof where the object is to make a fact non-justiciable. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ive law and not a rule apportioning the burden of persuading as to certain propositions or varying the duty of coming forward with evidence. 29.. In AIR 1958 SC 868; [1958] 34 ITR 130 (Commissioner of Incometax, Bombay v. Amritlal Bhogilal and Co.), the apex Court held dealing with a matter arising under the Income-tax Act, 1922 that an order granting registration to an assessee-firm is an independent and separate order and it merely affects or governs the procedure to be adopted in collecting or recovering the tax found due but does not really affect the computation of taxable income as such. Adverting to the scheme of appeals under the said Act and the conspicuous absence of any specific right of appeal to the department, against an order granting registration unlike the right of the assessee to prefer an appeal against an order refusing or cancelling registration of the firm, the court also held that the appellate powers of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner however wide it may be, have to be exercised only in respect of the matters which are specifically appealable and if any order has been left out of the appellate authority's purview, it would not be open to the appellate ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and perspective and by such an order the original assessment order was virtually set aside and the tax paid on turnover is liable to be refunded to the assessee, then the escaped turnover brought to assessment. The Division Bench observed as follows in repelling the claim: ".............While making an assessment in respect of escaped turnover, the assessing authority does not at all 'reassess' the entire taxable turnover but confines itself only to assessing the escaped turnover. An order under section 16(1)(a) of the Act has to be confined, after proper enquiry within the stipulated period, and giving an opportunity to the dealer to show cause, to an assessment of the escaped turnover only. An assessment which had been completed in proceedings under section 12 of the Act is not reopened or revised in the proceedings relating to assessment of escaped turnover under section 16(1)(a) of the Act, unlike in the proceedings under section 16(1)(b) of the Act, made in the circumstances detailed in that section, viz., where the dealer had been originally assessed at a rate lower than the rate at which he should have been assessed." 31.. The decision in [1970] 26 STC 354 (SC) (Tata Eng ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd some of the respondent-States, at any rate, vehemently contended that writs with relief of the nature claimed against them cannot be maintained before this Court against such State Governments or officers and authorities of the State Governments in relation to the action taken by them on an event said to have occurred in their respective States under their State laws. Article 226 of the Constitution, as it stood prior to 1963, was considered as not entitling the writs issued by a High Court to run beyond the territories in relation to which each High Court exercised its jurisdiction. But by the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963, clause (1-A) came to be inserted which came to be renumbered as clause (2) by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 providing that if the cause of action arises wholly or in part, within the territorial jurisdiction of that High Court, it may issue a writ against a person or authority resident within the jurisdiction of another High Court. If the object of the petitioners is only to have their claim against the State of Tamil Nadu or its officers and authorities, in the presence of their counter parts of the other State and to th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and dismissed as against those other State Governments and the authorities of such other State Governments. 33.. The plea on behalf of the petitioners based upon article 269(3) of the Constitution, and the submission that the provisions contained in sections 3, 4 and 6A are related not to the ordinary power of legislation but only the constituent power of the delegator and that an order made accepting the declaration in form F under section 6A(2) eo instante operate, by virtue of the deeming contained to render such transactions go outside the pale of the CST Act and the same cannot be considered to be available for the exercise of power under section 9(2) and (2A) of the CST Act, are far-fetched and seem to be illogical and unreasonable. The Indian Constitution is indisputably a quasi-federal one and it purports to embody a division of power between the Central and State authorities and the three Lists under which legislative powers have been distributed between the Union and the States are designed to define and delimit the respective areas of legislative competence of the Union and State Legislatures, the entries being mere legislative heads and do not confer any power on the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to the position of a judgment of the court or can be accorded any special position of immunity and immutability to escape itself from the scrutiny of the higher authorities in the hierarchy or its subjectivity to sections 16, 32 and 55 of the TNGST Act. A decision rendered under section 6A(2) of the CST Act, is in our view no way better than any other decision taken in the course of or for purposes of assessment and quantification of the tax liability of an assessee. 34.. The issue that requires next to be considered is the scope and purport of section 6A and the nature and character of an order passed under section 6A(2) of the CST Act and the consequences flowing therefrom. The intricacies and subtleties of the distinction between substantive law and law of procedure are not much of relevance in the context of the issues arising and the cases to be decided by us. A careful analysis of section 6A(1) would go to show that the exercise to be undertaken by a dealer is necessitated where he claims that he is not liable to pay tax under the Act in respect of any goods on the ground that the movement of such goods from one State to another was occasioned by reason of transfer of su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n 6A(2) of the CST Act, has not been ordained to have any overriding effect notwithstanding the other provisions of the Act or the law in force and applicable to the case. We are unable to persuade ourselves to agree to the extreme stand of according immunisation to the order passed under section 6A(2) of the CST Act and make it beyond the reach of any one under the Act, particularly when a proceeding or an order passed under the said provision is nothing but a step in aid or a process which leads only to the ultimate computation of assessment of tax liability. 36.. Any and every order passed by a competent assessing authority which has a direct impact on the quantification of liability of a dealer or an assessee and concerned the assessment to tax of such liability incurred under the Act de hors the specific provision under which it has been passed has been always considered and treated to form part of the process or proceeding relating to assessment and amenable to the appellate/revisional jurisdiction of the higher authorities provided under the Act. To illustrate, it may be pointed out that an order under section 55 of the TNGST Act which enables certain specified authorities ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... icular provision which compels such a meaning being attributed to it. In our judgment despite the phraseology employed in rule 33 the principle which has been laid in other cases relating to analogous provisions in sales tax statute must be followed as otherwise the purpose of a provision like rule 33 can be completely defeated by taking certain collateral proceedings and obtaining a stay order as was done in the present case or by unduly delaying assessment proceedings beyond a period of three years." Though in the context of sub-section (2) of section 6A of the Act wherein a reference is made to the point of time, vis-a-vis the assessment of the tax may require the word "assessment" to be construed as final order of assessment, the order of assessment passed on a declaration in form F filed even prior to the final order of assessment would be part of the proceedings relating to the assessment, since such order has the inevitable consequence of either exonerating the dealer concerned of his liability or bringing him also in respect of the transaction covered by the declaration filed in form F within the net of taxation. Consequently, the order passed under section 6A(2) by the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h an order cannot have our approval and the said claim is liable to be and is hereby rejected. 39.. Having regard to the conclusion of ours as above, there is no scope or room for quashing the impugned proceedings be it show cause notices preceding an original assessment or an escaped assessment or final orders themselves passed thereafter in these proceedings under article 226 of the Constitution of India, particularly in view of the fact that the learned counsel for the petitioners, as noticed supra in the earlier part of this order, have clearly stated that they are not going into the merits of the claim as to whether any one transfer effected or transaction covered by any individual declaration in form F is really a taxable one or not. The petitioners shall be at liberty to go before the authorities and make their representations on merits. In cases where the petitioners have approached this Court against the show cause notices at whatever stage of the proceedings, they shall have 30 days' time from today to make their representations or further representations if any, against the proposals contained in such show cause notices and in cases where the writ petitions have been f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rerequisites warranting and justifying recourse to action under sections 16, 55 and 32 of the TNGST Act read with section 9(2) and (2A) of the CST Act and proceedings are accordingly initiated and final orders passed, after giving due opportunity to the assessee/dealer concerned, in accordance with law. (e) The order passed under section 6A(2) of the CST Act, on a declaration filed in form F, at any stage, is as much amenable to the provisions of the CST Act read with TNGST Act, viz., sections 16, 55 and 32 of the TNGST Actas an order of assessment itself will be otherwise amenable and the mere passing of an order does not for all times make the same immune to action under all provisions or any contemplated action by any authority discharging duties and exercising powers under those Acts. (f) Since, the counsel for the petitioners have specifically made it clear and we have also permitted them to do so, no submissions were made on the merits of the claim and we have not endeavoured to decide the question as to whether the movement of the goods to which the declaration in form F related to was occasioned otherwise than as a result of sale or as a result of sale. This issue is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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