Commission agent exemption under sales tax law requires strict proof of known principals and recoverable particulars.

Sales tax exemption for brokers or commission agents under Section 8 applies only where the assessee strictly proves that it acted for known principals and supplies particulars enabling recovery from those principals. On the evidence, the assessees were not shown to be mere intermediaries, and the transactions did not establish brokerage. The commission-agent claim also failed because the alleged principals repudiated the agency and the assessees did not provide sufficient particulars for assessment or recovery against them. The exemption was therefore unavailable, and the sales tax assessment challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the assessees were liable to sales tax on the disputed turnover, and whether they could claim exemption by showing that they acted only as brokers or as commission agents selling for known principals under Section 8 of the Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: The finding on the evidence was that the assessees did not act merely as intermediaries to bring together buyers and sellers, and the transactions did not establish brokerage. The claim that they were commission agents for known principals also failed because the alleged principals repudiated the agency and the assessees did not furnish particulars enabling the department to proceed against the principals for tax. The exemption under Section 8 was available only when all its requirements were satisfied, since the provision was intended to shift liability to the principals in such cases.

Conclusion: The assessees did not prove that they were brokers or commission agents for known principals, and they were not entitled to exemption under Section 8.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the sales tax assessment failed, and both connected matters were dismissed with costs in one case and without costs in the other.

Ratio Decidendi: Exemption for commission agents under Section 8 is available only when the assessees strictly establish that they acted for known principals and furnish particulars sufficient to enable recovery from those principals.

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