Sales tax exemption and export sale claims require proof of despatch facts and full inquiry into the true transaction

Exemption for sales despatched outside West Bengal failed because the assessing authority found the goods were consigned within West Bengal and the dealer did not prove despatch to an outside address; those factual findings were not reappraised in certiorari. A separate claim to exemption for sales in the course of export under Article 286(1) required inquiry into the true nature of the transaction, including whether title passed to the Government before shipment or whether the dealer supplied goods for export through shipping agents. As that material enquiry was not made, the export issue required fresh investigation and the assessment could not stand as framed.

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Issues: (i) Whether sales claimed as despatched to an address outside West Bengal were entitled to exemption under section 5(2)(a)(v) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941. (ii) Whether the claim that sales were made in the course of export attracted exemption under Article 286(1) of the Constitution of India.

Issue (i): Whether sales claimed as despatched to an address outside West Bengal were entitled to exemption under section 5(2)(a)(v) of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941.

Analysis: The exemption depended on whether the goods were despatched by or on behalf of the dealer to an address outside West Bengal. The factual findings of the assessing authority were that the goods were consigned to places within West Bengal and that the petitioner had not established despatch to an outside address. The Court declined to reappraise those facts in certiorari jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The claim for exemption under section 5(2)(a)(v) failed.

Issue (ii): Whether the claim that sales were made in the course of export attracted exemption under Article 286(1) of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: Exemption for sales in the course of export required an investigation into the true nature of the transaction, including whether the Government purchased the coal and obtained title before shipment, or whether the petitioner, pursuant to Government directions, supplied goods for export through shipping agents. The assessment order did not investigate these material facts and rested on an insufficient reason. The matter therefore required fresh factual enquiry in light of the applicable control order and the constitutional exemption.

Conclusion: The export exemption issue was not properly decided and was sent back for fresh investigation.

Final Conclusion: The assessment could not stand as framed, the factual basis for the export claim required reconsideration, and the dealer obtained partial relief with the matter remitted for a fresh decision on the export question.

Ratio Decidendi: In certiorari, findings of fact based on evidence are not ordinarily interfered with, but an assessment cannot stand where a claim to constitutional export exemption is rejected without investigating the material facts governing whether the sale was in the course of export.

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