C Form compliance under CST Act is mandatory; late filing cannot preserve concessional tax treatment.

C Form declarations must be furnished to the prescribed authority in the prescribed manner to obtain the concessional rate under section 8(1) of the Central Sales Tax Act. The rules required the declaration to accompany the monthly return, or alternatively to be filed with the last return for the year where the prescribed register was maintained. Where the dealer did not comply with either mode of filing, the transaction falls outside section 8(1) and becomes taxable under section 8(2). Belated production of C Forms cannot be treated as statutory compliance, and departmental authorities or the Tribunal have no discretion to excuse the delay.

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Issues: Whether C Form declarations furnished after the prescribed time and otherwise not in the manner required by the rules could be accepted so as to extend the concessional rate under section 8(1) of the Central Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: The concessional rate under section 8(1) applies only where the sale is to a registered dealer and the declaration contemplated by section 8(4) is furnished to the prescribed authority in the prescribed manner. The relevant rules required the declaration to accompany the monthly return, unless the dealer maintained the prescribed register and submitted all declarations with the last return for the year. The assessee neither complied with the monthly filing requirement nor satisfied the alternative yearly procedure. On failure to furnish the declaration as prescribed, the transaction automatically falls outside section 8(1) and is taxable under section 8(2). The statutory scheme leaves no discretion to the departmental authorities or the Tribunal to excuse the delay or revive the concessional treatment by later acceptance of the forms.

Conclusion: Belated production of the C Forms could not be condoned or treated as compliance with the statute, and the transactions were rightly assessable under section 8(2), not section 8(1), of the Central Sales Tax Act.

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