1329.txt

The current document is a court judgment related to two civil appeals in India regarding a sales tax assessment against registered dealers for sales of cotton and castor oil on FOB contracts. The Sales Tax Officer argued that the sellers were not entitled to the benefit of the constitutional exemption for sales in the course of export from tax because the goods remained their property until they were loaded on board the ship. The Bombay High Court dismissed the sellers' petition and upheld the assessment of purchase tax under section 10(b) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act. The Sales Tax Officer appealed against this decision, while the sellers appealed against the earlier decision regarding the assessment of purchase tax. The court ultimately agreed with the Bombay High Court's decision that the goods remained the sellers' property until they were loaded on board the ship, and therefore the sales were exempt from tax under the constitutional exemption. The court rejected the Sales Tax Officer's argument that the parties had agreed that the property in the goods would pass to the buyers before shipment, as there was no evidence to support this claim. The court also rejected the Sales Tax Officer's contention that purchase tax was leviable under section 10(b) of the Bombay Sales Tax Act because the sellers had furnished a certificate under section 8(b) declaring that the goods were intended for export outside the state of Bombay, and the buyers had not shown that the goods had been despatched within six months from the date of purchase. The court found that the Legislature intended for the declaration to be carried out by despatch by a registered dealer, and if the goods were ultimately despatched by someone who is not a registered dealer, the certificate had not been complied with. As a result, the purchasing dealers were assessed to purchase tax under section 10(b) because the intention declared in the certificate had not been carried out. The appeals were dismissed with costs.