Delivery and transportation charges excluded from taxable turnover where prior identical assessment ruling bound the authorities.

Delivery charges and transportation charges were treated as outside the taxable turnover because they did not form part of the sale price of the goods. The assessment facts were identical to earlier periods involving the same assessee, and the earlier judicial view on those facts was already in favour of exclusion. In that situation, the departmental authorities were bound by the prior determination and there was no basis to depart from it. The inclusion of those charges in taxable turnover was therefore not sustained, and the assessee succeeded.

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Issues: Whether delivery charges and transportation charges were includible in the taxable turnover of the assessee, and whether the departmental authorities were bound by the earlier decision on identical facts concerning the same assessee.

Analysis: The Tribunal had excluded delivery charges and transportation charges from the taxable turnover, holding that they did not form part of the price of the goods. The facts in the present assessments were found to be identical to those in earlier assessment periods involving the same assessee, for which the High Court had already taken the same view. In such circumstances, there was no basis for the High Court to depart from its earlier decision, and the departmental authorities were bound by that determination.

Conclusion: The inclusion of delivery charges and transportation charges in the taxable turnover was not sustained, and the assessee succeeded.

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