Form C compliance for one purchase order: separate invoices and instalments did not create separate sales.

Under the Central Sales Tax Act, the concessional rate depended on a sale to a registered dealer supported by Form C. The Court held that where goods were supplied under one purchase order, instalment delivery and payment through separate invoices did not by themselves create separate contracts or separate sales; the transaction had to be read as a whole. Since the contract did not provide for distinct instalment sales and the split was only for convenience, one Form C covering the purchase order was sufficient. The assessee remained entitled to the concessional rate, and the revision failed.

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Issues: Whether goods supplied against one purchase order, though delivered and paid for in instalments under separate invoices, constituted one sale transaction for the purpose of the Form C requirement and concessional rate under the Central Sales Tax law.

Analysis: The concessional rate under section 8 of the Central Sales Tax Act depended upon a sale to a registered dealer supported by the prescribed declaration in Form C under section 8(4). The earlier proviso to rule 10(1) was read as requiring the declaration to relate to the transaction of sale, but the Court held that the language was vague and that the later amendment clarified the position. On the facts, the contract was silent about instalments and the division of delivery and payment into instalments arose only for convenience. Separate invoices did not by themselves create separate contracts or separate sale transactions. The transaction was therefore to be understood by reference to the purchase order as a whole, not by each instalment delivery.

Conclusion: The Court held that one Form C covering the purchase order was sufficient and that the assessee remained entitled to the concessional rate. The revision was dismissed, in favour of the assessee.

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