ivil Appeal No 232 of 1955
Appeal under Article 132 1 of the Constitution of India from the Judgment and Order dated November 24 1954 of the former Travancore Cochin High Court in Original Petition No 53 of 1954
TN Subramania Iyer and R Ganapathy Iyer for the appellant
KS Krishnaswamy Iyengar and Sardar Bahadur for the respondent
April 2
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by BHAGWATI J
This appeal with a certificate of fitness under article 132 1 of the Constitution is directed against the order of the High Court of Travancore Cochin dismissing the Original Petition No 53 of 1954 filed by the appellant under article 226 for quashing the order of the Sales Tax Officer 2nd Circle Quilon assessing him to sales tax on a net assessable turnover of Rs 754144 8 4 for the year 1951 52 1st April 1951 to 31st March 1952 and for issuing proper directions to the Sales Tax Authorities to assess the same according to law
The appellant is a registered manufacturer of cocoanut oil and cake who has obtained a certificate of registration in Form VI as per sub r
i of r 20 of the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Rules 1950
The business of the appellant for the purposes of this appeal consisted in the  purchase of copra manufacture of cocoanut oil and cake and sale of the same to parties inside the State of Travancore Cochin and sale of the oil to parties outside the State
In the year 1951 52 the appellant purchased copra of the value of Rs 716048 1 4 and after manufacturing oil therefrom in his oil mills he sold the oil partly in the State and partly outside the State and the cake 839 entirely within the State
 The total value of the oil sold was Rs 676719 0 11 out of which the sales outside the State were of the value of Rs 367816 10 1 and the value of the cake sold in the State was Rs 67155 155
The total gross turnover of the appellant was thus Rs 1459923 1 8 and he claimed to deduct therefrom the whole of the purchase price of the copra under r 7 1 k read with r 20
The net turnover according to him was therefore only Rs 743875 0 4 and he claimed to deduct out of this a further sum of Rs 367816 10 1 being the sale price of oil in inter State transactions which could not be taxed under article 286 of the Constitution thus showing a net assessable turnover of only Rs 376 058 6 3
The Sales Tax Officer 2nd Circle Quilon however fixed the net assessable turnover of the appellant at Rs 754144 8 4
He took the purchase value of the copra at Rs 716048 1 4 but added thereto Rs 308902 6 10 and Rs 67155 15 5 being the respective values of the oil and the cake sold inside the State excluding the sale price of inter State sales of oil namely Rs 367816 10 1 from such computation
Having thus excluded the sale price of inter State sales of oil he deducted only the value of the copra corresponding to the oil sold inside the State namely Rs 335216 0 0 as against the sum of Rs716048 1 4 deducted by the appellant
He added a sum of Rs 3385 0 3 being the price of gum sold by the appellant and deducted a further sum of Rs 6130 15 6 being the sales tax collected by him
He thus arrived at the net assessable turnover of Rs 754144 8 4 and assessed the appellant for sales tax on the same
The appellant preferred an appeal to the Assistant Sales Tax Commissioner STA No 1480 of 1953 54 who dismissed the same by his order dated May 10 1954
A further petition to the Government for redress met with the same fate and the appellant thereupon filed the petition in the High Court of Travancore
Cochin being OP No 53 of 1954 with the result indicated above
The decision of this appeal turns on the construction of the relevant provisions of the Travancore Cochin 340 General Sales Tax Act 1125 Act XI of 1125 ME and the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Rules 1950 made thereunder which may be conveniently set out here
The preamble to the Act stated that it was enacted to provide for the levy of a general tax on the sale of goods in the United State of Travancore and Cochin
Section 2 j defined a  sale  as under  Sale  with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions means every transfer of the property in goods by one person to another in the course of trade or business for cash or for deferred payment or other valuable consideration   
Explanation 2 Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Sale of Goods Act for the time being in force the sale or purchase of any goods shall be deemed for the purpose of the Act to have taken place in the United State wherever the contract of sale or purchase might have been made
 Section 2 k defined  turnover  as  the aggregate amount for which goods are either bought by or sold by a dealer whether for cash or for deferred payment or other valuable consideration provided that the proceeds of the sale by a person of agricultural or horticultural produce grown by himself or grown on any land in which he has an interest whether as owner usufructuary mortgagee tenant or otherwise shall be excluded from his turnover  An explanation was added to this definition  which is however not material for our purpose
Section 3 was the charging section and it provided for levy of taxes on sales of goods in the terms following  1 Subject to the provisions of this Acta every dealer shall pay for each year a tax on his total turnover for such year and b the tax shall be calculated at the rate of three pies for every Indian rupee in such turnover   3 A dealer whose total turnover in any year is less than ten thousand Indian rupees shall not be liable to pay any tax for that year under sub section_ 1 or sub section 2
841 4 For the purposes of this section and the other provisions of this Act turnover shall be determined in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed
5 The taxes under sub sections 1 and 2 shall be assessed levied and collected in such manner and in such instalments if any as may be prescribed
Provided that i in respect of the same transaction of sale the buyer or the seller but not both as determined by such rules as may be prescribed shall be taxed ii where a dealer has been taxed in respect of the purchase of any goods in accordance with the rules referred to in clause i of this proviso he shall not be taxed again in respect of any sale of such goods effected by him Section 4 enacted that the provisions of the charging section shall not apply to the sale of electrical energy and any goods other than arrack and foreign liquor on which duty is or may be levied under the Travancore or Cochin Abkari Act or the Travancore or Cochin Opium Act
Section 24 conferred upon the Government power to make rules to carry out the purposes of the Act
The Act as originally enacted received the assent of the Rajpramukh on January 5 1950
After the advent of the Constitution however the Act was amended by the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Amendment Act 1951 and section 26 was added thereto which ran as under   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 842 clause 1 of article 286 of the Constitution of India shall apply for the interpretation of sub clause i of clausea of sub section 1
 The Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Rules 1950 which were made by_the Government under the rule making power conferred upon it by sub sections 4  5 of section 3 read with section 24 of the Act laid down inter alia the provisions in regard to the determination of the total turnover of a dealer which was liable to be taxed
Rule 4 provided for the determination of the gross turnover  1 Save as provided in sub rule 2 the gross turnover of a dealer for the purposes of these rules shall be the amount for which goods are sold by him
2 In the case of the undermentioned goods the gross turnover of a dealer for the purposes of these rules shall be the amount for which the goods are
bought by him
a Cocoanut copra ground nut and its kernel
b Cashew and its kernel
Rule 7 provided that the tax or taxes under section 3 or 5 or the notificationor notifications under section 6 shall be levied on the net turnover of a dealer
It further provided that in determining the net turnover the amounts specified in cls
a to k were subject to the conditions specified therein to be deducted from the gross turnover
Clause k is relevant for our purpose
It specified  all amounts which a registered manufacturer of cocoanut andor groundnut oil and cake may be entitled to deduct from his gross turnover under Rule 20 subject to the conditions specified in the rule  Rule 20 so far as it is material for our purpose provided  1
Any dealer who manufactures cocoanut groundnut oil and cake from cocoanut andor copra or groundnut andorkernel purchased by him may on application to the assessing authority having jurisdiction over the area in which he carries on his business 843 be registered as a manufacturer of cocoanutgroundnut oil and cake and a certificate issued in Form VI 2
Every such manufacturer shall be entitled to a deduction under clause k of sub rule i of rule 7 equal to the value of the cocoanut andor copra or groundnut andor kernel purchased and converted by him into oil and cake provided that the amount for which the oil is sold is included in his turnover
 It is not necessary to refer to any other rule for the purposes of this appeal
The main controversy between the parties centres on the method of calculation of the net turnover
The appellant contends that in the calculation of such net turnover he is entitled to include the total value of the oil sold by him viz Rs 676719 0 11 irrespective of the fact whether these sales were effected inside the State or outside the State and deduct therefrom the total value of copra purchased by him from which the whole quantity of oil sold by him was manufactured viz Rs 716048 1 4
The resultant figure according to him represents the net assessable turnover on which the Sales Tax Authorities would be entitled to assess him to sales tax if the position in law was as is stood before the amendment of the Act by the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Amendment Act 1951
He next contends that section 26 which was added to the Act by the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Amendment Act 1951 prohibits the levy amongst others of a tax on the sale or purchase of goods where such sale or purchase takes place in the course of inter State trade or commerce
This is an overriding provision which it is contended entitled him to deduct the value of the oil sold outside the State viz Rs 367816 10 1 from the assessable turnover arrived at as above
The result of this mode of calculation is that he claims to deduct from the gross turnover the whole of the purchase price of copra viz Rs 716048 1 4 and not the purchase price of copra which can be allocated to his sales of oil inside the State
The Sales Tax Authorities on the other hand contend that the appellant is not entitled to take into 844 computation at all his sales of oil outside the State and is also not entitled to deduct from his gross turnover the purchase price of copra allocated to the oil sold to persons outside the State
They claim to lift the whole of these sales of oil outside the State inclusive of the purchase price of the copra which can be allocated to them out of the calculations of the net turnover because of the provisions of section 26 set out above relying upon the non obstante provision contained therein viz Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act a tax on the sale or purchase of goods shall not be imposed under this Act where such sale or purchase takes place in the course of inter State trade or commerce
 We have to decide which of these calculations of the net turnover is correct having regard to the relevant provisions of the Act and the rules made there under
The definition of sale contained in section 2 j is wide enough to include the sales of oil manufactured by the appellant whether these sales are effected inside the State or outside the State
The definition of  turnover  contained in section 2 k of the Act also makes no distinction between the sales inside the State and outside the State
The  turnover  is there defined as the aggregate amount for which goods are either bought or 3old by a dealer and that definition comprises within its scope both these types of sales whether inside the State or outside the State
This turnover of a dealer is under section 3 sub section
4 to be determined in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed
Rule 4 made by the Government under the rule making power prescribes that the gross turnover of a dealer for the purposes of the rules shall be the amount for which the goods are sold by him
This rule also does not make any distinction between sales inside the State or outside the State
After having thus provided for the inclusion of all sales within the gross turnover r 7 provides that the tax or taxes under section 3 which is the charging section shall be levied on the net turnover of a dealer
Such net turnover is to be arrived at after deducting from the gross turnover various 845 amounts specified in cls
a to k thereof and cl
k provides that a registered manufacturer of cocoanut andor groundnut oil and cake will be entitled to deduct from his gross turnover such amounts as are mentioned in r 20 subject to the conditions specified therein
The deduction under r 20 is available to a dealer who manufactures cocoanutgroundnut oil and cake from cocoanut and  or copra or groundnut andor kernel purchased by him and he is entitled to deduct the value of the cocoanut andor copra or groundnut andor kernel purchased and converted by him into oil and cake provided that the amount for which the oil is sold is included in his turnover
Here also we find no distinction made between sales inside the State or outside the State
On a prima facie reading of these provisions contained in the Act and the rules made thereunder it would appear that a manufacturer of cocoanut or groundnut oil and cake would be entitled to include in his gross turnover the total value of the oil sold by him Whether inside the State or outside the State and to deduct from such gross turnover the whole of the value of the copra purchased by him and converted into oil and cake irrespective of the fact whether such oil or cake was sold by him inside the State or outside the State
The only thing which he had to do under r 20 sub r2 was to include the amount for which the oil is sold in his turnover and he would then under r 71k be entitled to deduct from his gross turnover the whole of the price of the copra purchased and converted by him into oil and cake again irrespective of the fact whether the same had been sold by him inside the State or outside the State
This was certainly the position as it obtained prior to the addition of the section 26 to the Act by the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Amendment Act 1951
We have therefore to consider what is the impact of section 26 on the other provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder
The High Court decided against the appellant observing that the definitions given in section 2j and k of the Act applied only in the absence of anything 109 846 repugnant in the subject or context and on a perusal of the relevant provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder it was of opinion that these definitions were clearly inapplicable for the following reasons There can be no doubt that what has been intended is a taxation of copra at the purchase point and the avoidance of sales tax in respect of the oil extracted by a registered manufacturer from such copra to the extent of the value of the copra used for the said manufacture in all those cases where but for the concession he would have been liable to pay both the purchase tax on copra and the sales tax on oil under the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Act 1125
In other words the object is the avoidance of a double taxation by the State one at the purchase point of copra and the other at the sale point of oil and it is impossible to invoke the definition and say that the concession will be available to a registered manufacturer even in those cases where only one and not both the taxes can be realized from him under the provisions of the Act
 The answer given by the learned counsel for the appellant to the above reasoning was that in fiscal statutes what you have got to look to is not the spirit of the statute but the letter of the law and if you could not bring a particular tax within the letter of the law the subject could not be made liable for the same
Our attention was drawn in this connection to the observations of Lord Russell of Killowen in Inland Revenue Commissioners vs Duke of Westminster1  I confess that I view with disfavour the doctrine that in taxation cases the subject is to be taxed if in accordance with a Court s view of what it considers the substance of the transaction the Court thinks that the case falls within the contemplation or spirit of the statute
The subject is not taxable by inference or by analogy but only by the plain words of a statute applicable to the facts and circumstances of his case As Lord Cairns said many years ago in Partington vs The Attorney General 1 As I understand the 1  24
21869  122
847 principle of all fiscal legislation it is this if the person sought to be taxed comes within the letter of the law he must be taxed however great the hardship may appear to the judicial mind to be
On the other hand if the Crown seeking to recover the tax cannot bring the subject within the letter of the law the subject is free however apparently within the spirit of the law the case might otherwise appear to be
 The passage was quoted with approval by the Privy Council in the Bank of Chettinad vs Income Tax Commissioner 1 and the Privy Council registered its protest against the suggestion that in revenue cases the substance of the matter may be regarded as distinguished from the strict legal position
See also F L Smidth  Co vs F Greenwood 2
It is no doubt true that in construing fiscal statutes and in determining the liability of a subject to tax one must have regard to the strict letter of the law and not merely to the spirit of the statute or the substance of the law
If the Revenue satisfies the Court that the case falls strictly within the provisions of the law the subject can be taxed
If on the other hand the case is not covered within the four corners of the provisions of the taxing statute no tax can be imposed by inference or by analogy or by trying to probe into the intentions of the legislature and by considering what was the substance of the matter
We must of necessity therefore have regard to the actual provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder before we can come to the conclusion that the appellant was liable to assessment as contended by the Sales Tax Authorities
It may be noted at the outset that the main bulk of the Sales Tax Acts enacted by the various Provincial Legislatures was enacted before the Constitution
There were on the Statute Book various Sales Tax Acts enacted by the Provincial Legislatures viz Bihar Sales Tax Act 1947 Bengal Finance Sales Tax Act 1941 Madhya Pradesh Sales Tax Act 1947 Madras Sales Tax Act 1939 Mysore Sales Tax Act 1948 Orissa Sales Tax Act 1947 East Punjab General Sales Tax Act 1948 and the Uttar Pradesh Sales Tax Act 1 AIR 1940 PC 183
2 VIII TC 193 206 348 1948 all of which levied sales tax on a more or less uniform basis bringing within their ken not only the sales which were actually effected within the territory but also sales where adopting the nexus theory eve1 one of the ingredients of sale was found to have taken place within the territory
The Assam Sales Tax Act 1947 and the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act 1950 also followed the same pattern
When the Constitution came to be inaugurated on January 26 1950 article 2862 laid down restrictions on the State Legislatures to enact laws imposing or authorising the imposition of tax on the sale or purchase of goods in certain cases therein specified so that after January 26 1950 no State could impose a tax on the sale or purchase of goods falling within these categories
The Sales Tax Acts enacted by the various Provincial Legislatures had therefore to be brought in line with this provision of the Constitution and various expedients were devised by the State Legislatures in order to effectuate this object
This object was sought to be achieved in the main bulk of the Sales Tax Acts by adding towards the end of the Acts sections like section 26 of the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Act 1125 incorporating therein the terms of article 286 of the Constitution
The non obstante provision was thus enacted in the main bulk of the Sales Tax Acts which laid down Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act the tax on the sales or purchase of goods shall not be imposed under this Act where   and the provisions of article 286 were in terms incorporated therein
 A different expedient was adopted in the Assam Sales Tax Act 1947 and the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act 1950
The Assam Sales Tax Act 1947 had incorporated therein an addition to the charging section section 3 of the Act and section 3 1 A which was inserted by section 3 of the Assam Sales Tax Amendment Act 1947 Assam Act IV of 1951 was to the following effect Nothing in sub section 1 shallexcept in cases covered by the first proviso to sub section 12 of section 2 of this Act be deemed to render any dealer 849 liable to tax on the sale of goods where such sale takes place 1 outside the State of Assam 2 in the course of the import of the goods into or export of the goods out of the territory of India or 3 in the course of inter State trade or commerce except in so far as Parliament may by law otherwise provide
The Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act 1950 had a similar provision incorporated in its definition of sale given in section 2 k of the Act
The Explanation 2 which was substituted for the original Explanation 2 by section 2 of the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Amendment Act 1950 Hyderabad Act XXXII of 1950 read as under Explanation 2  Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other law for the time being in force a transfer of goods in respect of which no tax can be imposed by reason of the provision contained in Article 286 of the Constitution shall not be deemed to be sale within the meaning of this clause
 A further expedient which was adopted in this connection may be noted in r 5 of the Bombay Sales Tax Rules 1952 enacted under the Bombay Sales Tax Act 1952 Bombay Act XXIV of 1952 which authorised the deduction of certain sales coming within article 286 of the Constitution while calculating the taxable turnover of a dealer
We are not called upon to express any opinion as to whether the incorporation of the provisions of article 286 of the Constitution in the charging section as it was done in the Assam Sales Tax Act 1947 or in the definition of sale as it was done in the Hyderabad General Sales Tax Act 1950 or even in the rules in regard to the calculation of taxable turnover as it was done in the Bombay Sales Tax Rules 1952 had the effect of taking the sales falling within the categories specified in article 286 out of the purview of the respective Sales Tax Acts so that they would not be included at all within the calculation of the net turnover on which only the sales tax could be levied
What was done in the instant case before us as in the bulk of the Sales 850 Tax Acts above noted was the incorporation of those provisions of article 286 of the Constitution therein by adding a non obstante provision at the end of the respective Sales Tax Acts in the manner above indicated
The definition of sale was not amended nor was the charging section
The rules as to the calculation of the net turnover also remained the same without any deduction in regard to sales coming within article 286 of the Constitution being incorporated therein with the result that the Sales Tax Authorities founded themselves upon the non obstante provision incorporated in the Act by the addition of section 26 therein by the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Amendment Act 1951
What then is the effect of this non obstante provision  This Court in Aswani Kumar Ghosh vs Arabinda Bose 1 made the following observations in connection with the non obstante clause It should first be ascertained what the enacting part of the section provides on a fair construction of the words used according to their natural and ordinary meaning and the non obstante clause is to be understood as operating to set aside as no longer valid anything contained in relevant existing laws which is inconsistent with the new enactment
 The same ratio applies to the construction of the non obstante provision contained in section 26 of the Act with reference to all the other provisions of the Act that preceded the same
In our opinion section 26 of the Act in cases falling within the categories specified under article 286 of the Constitution has the effect of setting at nought and of obliterating in regard thereto the provisions contained in the Act relating to the imposition of tax on the sale or purchase of such goods and in particular the provisions contained in the charging section and the provisions contained in r 20 2 and other provisions which are incidental to the process of levying such tax
So far as sales falling within the categories specified in article 286 of the Constitution and the corresponding section 26 of the Act are concerned they are as it were 1   21 22
851 taken out of the purview of the Act and no effect is to be given to those provisions which would otherwise have been applicable if section 26 had not been added to the Act
If these provisions of the Act and the rules made thereunder do not apply to
the sales falling within those categories the value thereof cannot be included in the turnover of the dealer and no question would rise of the applicability of r 7 1 k and r 20 2 at all to these cases
The amount for which the oil is sold in inter State trade or commerce would not be lawfully included in the turnover of the dealer and if the amount for which such oil is sold cannot thus be included in his turnover no occasion would arise for the deduction under r 7 1 k of the value of the cocoanut andor copra or groundnut andor kernel purchased and converted by the dealer into such oil and cake
A distinction was sought to be made between the inclusion of the value of such oil in the turnover of the dealer for the purpose of assessment and the levy of tax thereupon
It was urged that the inclusion of such oil in the turnover for the purpose of assessment was quite distinct from the liability for tax which was the only thing prohibited by section 26 of the Act and therefore the value of such oil could be lawfully included in the turnover involving as a necessary consequence the deduction of the value of the copra purchased by the dealer and converted by him into such oil from such turnover the resultant turnover being the net turnover for the purposes of assessment the value of the oil sold in the course of inter State trade or commerce being further deducted therefrom by reason of the operation of section 26 of the Act thus making in effect a distinction between assessable turnover and the taxable turnover
Reliance was placed in support of this position on the observations of this Court in Messrs Chatturam Horilram Ltd vs Commissioner of Income Tax Bihar and Orissa1  As has been pointed out by the Federal Court in Chatturam vs CIT Bihar quoting from the 1   297
2  126
852 judgment of Lord Dunedin in Whitney vs Commissioners of Inland Revenue 1 there are three stages in the imposition of a tax
There is the declaration of liability that is the part of the statute which determines what person in respect of what property are liable
Next there is the assessment
Liability does not depend on assessment
That ex hypothesi has already been fixed
But assessment particularises the exact sum which a person liable has to pay
Lastly come the methods of recovery if the person taxed does not voluntarily pay The appellant however forgets that the three stages in the imposition of a tax which are laid down here predicate in the first instance a declaration of liability as the starting point
If there is a liability to tax imposed under the terms of the taxing statute then follow the provisions in regard to the assessment of such liability
If there is no liability to tax there cannot be any assessment either
Sales or purchases in respect of which there is no liability to tax imposed by the statute cannot at all be included in the calculation of turnover for the purpose of assessment and the exact sum which the dealer is liable to pay must be ascertained without any reference whatever to the same 
There is a broad distinction between the provisions contained in the statute in regard to the exemptions of tax or refund or rebate of tax on the one hand and in regard to the non liability to tax or non imposition of tax on the other
In the former case but for the provisions as regards the exemptions or refund or rebate of tax the sales or purchases would have to be included in the gross turnover of the dealer because they are prima facie liable to tax and the only thing which the dealer is entitled to in respect thereof is the deduction from the gross turnover in order to arrive at the net turnover on which the tax can be imposed
In the latter case the sales or purchases are exempted from taxation altogether
The Legislature cannot enact a law imposing or authorising the imposition of a tax thereupon and they are not liable to any such imposition 1 853 of tax
If they are thus not liable to tax no tax can be levied or imposed on them and they do not come within the purview of the Act at all
The very fact of their non liability to tax is sufficient to exclude them from the calculation of the gross turnover as well as the net turnover on which sales tax can be levied or imposed
If this distinction is borne in mind it is clear that section 26 of the Act enacts a provision with regard to nonliability of these transactions to tax and these transactions were therefore taken out of the purview of the Act
We are therefore of opinion that the non obstante provision contained in section 26 of the Act has the effect of taking these transactions out of the purview of the Act with the result that the dealer is not required nor is he entitled to include them in the calculations of his turnover liable to tax thereunder
This position is not at all affected by the provision with regard to registration and submissions of returns of the sales tax by the dealers under the Act
The legislature in spite of its disability in the matter of the imposition of sales tax by virtue of the provisions of article 286 of the Constitution may for the purposes of the registration of a dealer and submission of the returns of sales tax include these transactions in the dealer s turnover
Such inclusion however for the purposes aforesaid would not affect the non liability of these transactions to levy or imposition of sales tax by virtue of the provisions of article 286 of the Constitution and the corresponding provision enacted in the Act as above
We are therefore of opinion that the conclusion reached by We are therefore therefore of opinion that the conclusion reached by the High Court was correct the calculations of the net turnover made by the Sales Tax Authorities were also correct and this appeal must stand dismissed with costs
Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The business of the appellant consisted in the purchase of copra manufacture of cocoanut oil and cake therefrom and sale of oil and cake to parties inside the State of Travancore Cochin and sale of oil to parties outside the State
Before the coming into force of the Constitution of India under the provisions of the Travancore Cochin General Sales Tax Act 1125 and the rules made thereunder for the purposes of assessment to sales tax the appellant wag entitled to include in his gross turnover the total value of the oil sold by him whether inside the State or outside the State and to deduct therefrom the whole of the value of the copra purchased by him
Subsequently in 1951 the Act was amended by the addition of section 26 which inter alia provided Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act 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 
For the year 1951 1952 the Sales Tax Officer assessed the appellant to sales tax on a net assessable turnover by taking the value of the whole of the copra purchased by him adding thereto the respective values of the oil and the cake sold inside the State and deducting only the value of the copra corresponding to the oil sold inside the State
It was contended for the appellant that in the calculation of the net turnover he was entitled to include the total value of the oil sold by him both inside and outside the State and deduct therefrom the total value of the copra purchased by him and further that under the overriding provision of the Act under section 26 he was entitled to have the value of the oil sold outside the State deducted
Held that the calculation made by the Sales Tax Officer of the net turnover was correct
The non obstante provision contained in section 26 of the Act has the effect of taking transactions relating to inter State trade out of the purview of the Act and they are excluded in the calculation 108 838 of the gross turnover as well as the net turnover on which sales tax can be assessed
Aswani Kumar Ghosh vs Arabinda Bose   relied on