Export sale exemption protects last pre-export transactions, and use of a wrong statutory form does not create tax liability.

A last sale or purchase preceding export is treated as a sale in the course of export under section 5(3) of the Central Sales Tax Act when it is made after an export order and for complying with that order. In that situation, State sales tax or purchase tax cannot be levied because article 286(1)(a) bars taxation of export sales. Tax liability also does not arise merely because the assessee used an inappropriate statutory form, where no proper form had been prescribed under the State rules.

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Issues: Whether the last sale or purchase preceding export, when made after an export order and for complying with that order, is exempt from State sales tax or purchase tax under the Central Sales Tax Act and Article 286 of the Constitution, and whether use of an inappropriate statutory form can create tax liability.

Analysis: A last sale or purchase preceding export falls within the deeming provision of section 5(3) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 when it takes place after an export agreement or order and is for the purpose of complying with that agreement or order. Such a transaction is in the course of export and is protected by the constitutional prohibition in article 286(1)(a) against State taxation on export sales. The liability cannot be fastened merely because the assessee used a wrong form where no appropriate form had been devised under the State rules, since the taxing power itself is absent when the statutory conditions of export are satisfied.

Conclusion: The transaction is not exigible to sales tax or purchase tax if the conditions of section 5(3) are met, and the use of the wrong form does not make it taxable. The assessee succeeds.

Ratio Decidendi: A last sale or purchase made after an export order and for complying with that order is a sale in the course of export and cannot be subjected to State sales tax or purchase tax under article 286(1)(a), and tax liability cannot arise merely from use of an inappropriate form.

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