Sale price includes freight and handling charges when they form part of the consideration for delivery to the buyer.

Freight and handling charges were treated as part of the 'money consideration' and therefore part of 'sale price' under section 2(d) of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954. The Court read the definition as using both 'means' and 'includes', holding that the ordinary meaning of the main definition governs and is not cut down by the inclusive limb. It emphasised that the real inquiry is the character of the payment, not the manner of accounting or separate disclosure in the bill. On the facts found, delivery expenditure was incurred to make the goods available at the buyers' places, so the charges formed part of the consideration for sale and were taxable.

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Issues: Whether freight and handling charges collected by the dealer formed part of the 'money consideration' and therefore part of 'sale price' under section 2(d) of the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954.

Analysis: The definition of 'sale price' in section 2(d) uses both the words 'means' and 'includes'. The first limb must receive its ordinary and natural meaning, and the inclusive limb does not control or cut down that meaning. The similar language considered in the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 had already been construed to mean the amount payable by the purchaser to the dealer as consideration for the sale, and the real inquiry is the character of the payment, not how the dealer accounts for it or whether it is separately shown in the bill. On the facts found by the Tribunal, the dealers were under an obligation to incur the delivery expenditure to make the goods available at the buyers' places, the delivery charges were only notional as separate collection, and the case therefore fell within the principle that such charges are part of the price paid for the sale.

Conclusion: Freight and handling charges formed part of the sale price and were taxable as part of the consideration for sale, against the assessee.

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