Strict compliance with Form C requirements governs concessional inter-State sales tax; substitute documents cannot replace the original declaration.

Strict compliance with the declaration procedure under section 8 of the Central Sales Tax Act and the relevant rules was required for concessional inter-State sales tax. Where the Karnataka rule mandated attachment of the original Form C to the return, the duplicate form and an indemnity bond could not substitute for the original; the loss procedure in the Central Rules did not relax that express requirement, so concessional treatment was unavailable without production of the prescribed original declaration.

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Issues: Whether a selling dealer is entitled to concessional inter-State sales tax without furnishing the original portion of Form C as required by the Karnataka Rules, where the duplicate portion and an indemnity bond are produced instead.

Analysis: The scheme of section 8 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, read with rule 12 of the Central Sales Tax (Registration and Turnover) Rules, 1957 and rule 6(b)(ii) of the Central Sales Tax (Karnataka) Rules, 1957, requires strict compliance with the prescribed declaration procedure. The Karnataka rule specifically obliges the selling dealer to attach the original portion of Form C to the return to claim concessional tax, and the loss procedure in rule 12 does not dilute that requirement. The provisions were treated as mandatory and intended to prevent misuse of declaration forms and evasion of tax. The presence of the duplicate form and an indemnity bond was held not to substitute for the original where the governing State rule expressly requires the original.

Conclusion: The dealer was not entitled to concessional rate of tax without producing the original Form C as prescribed.

Final Conclusion: The statutory conditions for concessional inter-State sales tax were not fulfilled, and the claim failed for want of strict compliance with the prescribed declaration requirements.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the taxing statute and validly made rules make production of a specified declaration form mandatory for concessional treatment, the requirement must be strictly complied with and cannot be satisfied by substitute documents unless the rules so permit.

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