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TMI Blog2016 (2) TMI 1254X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gh Court dismissed the writ petition preferred by the appellant and affirmed the order of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal which had disallowed the appellant's claim that certain charges which it had received from the Indian Iron and Steel Company Limited (IISCO) at Burnpur on account of supply of industrial gases through pipeline be treated as facility charges and be kept out of sale price for the purpose of Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 (for short "the 1941 Act"). The High Court has extracted the definition of "sale price" in the relevant Act and has thereafter relied upon a judgment of this Court in Black Diamond Beverages and Another Vs. Commercial Tax Officer, Central Section, Assessment Wing, Calcutta and Others [(1998) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... obligation to put the goods on rail and arrange to have them carried to the destination railway station at his expense. The delivery of the goods to the purchaser in such a case is complete at the destination railway station and till then the risk continues to remain with the dealer. The freight is payable by the dealer since he has to arrange for the goods to be carried by rail to the destination railway station at his expense and there is no obligation on the purchaser to pay the freight. The purchaser is concerned only to pay the agreed price for the delivery of the goods at the destination railway station. The agreed price being inclusive of the freight, it would be a matter of indifference to the purchaser as to what is the amount of f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... it unnecessary to consider the second part of the definition, but the latter clause of the second part was strongly relied upon on behalf of the assessee to support the exclusion of the amount of freight from 'sale price' and hence we must proceed to consider it. The second part enacts an inclusive clause. It says that 'sale price' includes "any sum charged for anything done by the dealer in respect of the goods at the time of or before the delivery thereof other than the cost of freight or delivery or the cost of installation in case where such cost is separately charged." Therefore, 'any sum charged for anything done by the dealer in respect of the goods at the time of or before the delivery thereof' is to be rega ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on the view taken by us, the amount of freight forms part of the 'sale price' within the meaning of the first part of the definition and it is not necessary for the State to invoke the inclusive clause and in fact the State has not done so. The exclusion clause is, therefore, irrelevant and cannot be called in aid by the assessee. We may point out that even if the exclusion clause were read as an exception to the first part of the definition which, as we have pointed out, cannot be done, it cannot avail the assessee. It is only where the cost of freight is separately charged that it would fall within the exclusion clause and in the context of the definition as a whole, it is obvious that the expression "cost of freight is separately ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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