State levy point governs Central Sales Tax incidence where the State law taxes cotton only at last purchase.

Section 9(1) of the Central Sales Tax Act requires Central tax to be levied and collected in the same manner as under the State sales tax law, so the State law's charging point and levy scheme govern tax incidence. Applying that interpretation, cotton subject to a single-point levy at the last purchase stage under the Madras sales tax regime could not be taxed on turnover that did not fall at that point, even if the transactions were inter-State sales under section 3(b). The disputed turnover was therefore not liable to tax under the Central Sales Tax Act, and the assessment could not stand.

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Issues: Whether the turnover in dispute, arising from transactions alleged to be sales in the course of inter-State trade, was liable to tax under the Central Sales Tax Act when the State sales tax law imposed tax on cotton only at the point of last purchase.

Analysis: The assessment turned on the interaction of sections 8(2) and 9(1) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 with the Madras sales tax regime. The Court applied the binding interpretation that the expression "levied and collected in the same manner" in section 9(1) is not confined to mere procedural assessment machinery, but extends to the point and manner in which the State levy operates. Since the State law, as applicable at the relevant time, taxed cotton only at the last purchase point, the sales in question did not answer that description, even assuming they fell within section 3(b) of the Central Sales Tax Act.

Conclusion: The disputed turnover was not liable to tax under the Central Sales Tax Act, and the assessment could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the tax case was allowed, with the assessment on the disputed turnover set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where section 9(1) of the Central Sales Tax Act makes the Central tax leviable and collectible in the same manner as tax under the State sales tax law, the State law's charging point and single-point levy scheme govern the incidence of tax, so turnover not falling at that point is not taxable under the Central Act.

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