Transport charges in sugarcane purchases formed part of consideration and were includible in taxable turnover.

Transport charges and transport subsidy paid in connection with the purchase of sugarcane were treated as part of the purchase consideration, not as separate post-sale expenditure. The Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 fixed only a statutory minimum price and did not exclude an agreed higher price or contractual payments linked to delivery. Where the purchase arrangement incorporated a directive requiring the buyer to bear transport subsidy, those amounts were directly connected with supply and completion of the sale. On that basis, the transport-related payments were includible in taxable turnover for purchase tax, and the minimum price contention was rejected.

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Issues: Whether transport charges or transport subsidy paid in connection with purchase of sugarcane were includible in the taxable turnover of the purchaser for purchase tax, and whether the price fixed under the Control Order excluded such amounts.

Analysis: The minimum price fixed under the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 was not the only permissible price; the order contemplated an agreed price above the statutory minimum. The agreement between the parties expressly incorporated the departmental directive requiring transport subsidy to be borne as part of the purchase arrangement. The transport payments were linked to supply and delivery of the sugarcane and were made to secure completion of the sale, not as post-sale expenditure. The prior decision on identical facts had already treated such payments as part of the consideration for purchase, and that principle applied with greater force where the directive formed part of the contract.

Conclusion: Transport charges and transport subsidy were part of the purchase price and were includible in the taxable turnover; the contention that the statutory minimum price alone governed the turnover was rejected.

Final Conclusion: The appeals failed, and the assessment including the transport-related amounts in the taxable turnover was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Amounts paid by the purchaser pursuant to the contract of sale, including transport subsidy necessary to complete delivery and supply, form part of the consideration and are includible in taxable turnover.

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