Actual payment required for tax exemption where goods must have "suffered" entry tax under the notification.

An exemption notification conditioned relief on goods having "suffered" entry tax before purchase by a registered dealer. The plain language was held to require actual incidence and payment of entry tax, not merely potential liability to tax or exemption under a separate notification. Earlier decisions on similar wording supported that construction. The assessee therefore could not claim exemption on a deemed or notional basis, and the assessment order revived by the State was sustained while the writ relief was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the exemption in the sales tax notification applied only when the goods had actually suffered and been paid entry tax under the entry tax enactment.

Analysis: The notification under the State Sales Tax Act conditioned exemption on the goods having "suffered" entry tax under the Entry Tax Act before purchase by the registered dealer. The words were held to be plain and unambiguous. On that language, the condition was satisfied only if entry tax had in fact been paid, and not merely because the goods were otherwise liable to entry tax or exempt from it under a separate notification. The reasoning was supported by the construction placed on similar language in earlier decisions dealing with goods that had already suffered tax or duty.

Conclusion: The exemption was available only on actual payment of entry tax, and not on deemed or notional sufferance; the assessee's claim to exemption failed.

Final Conclusion: The assessment order as revived by the State was sustained, and the writ-based relief earlier granted was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification makes eligibility depend on goods having "suffered" a tax, the expression requires actual incidence and payment of that tax, unless the notification itself indicates a different meaning.

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