Inter-State sale requires contractual stipulation for movement of goods; later buyer-driven transport alone is insufficient.

A sale is treated as inter-State trade only where the contract contains an express or implied stipulation that goods will move from one State to another, and the movement occurs in pursuance of that stipulation. Mere delivery to an out-of-State buyer, later transport by the purchaser, or the use of forms or certificates describing the transaction as inter-State does not satisfy section 3(a) of the Central Sales Tax Act. On the correspondence and sale notes, the contractual obligation was only supply and delivery in Delhi, with no requirement that the goods be moved to Jammu and Kashmir or Simla. The subsequent movement, if any, was attributable to the purchasers alone.

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Issues: Whether the sales of vanaspati ghee to the State of Jammu and Kashmir and to the Special Police Establishment, Simla, were sales in the course of inter-State trade or commerce within the meaning of section 3(a) of the Central Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: A sale becomes inter-State only when the contract of sale contains a stipulation, express or implied, that goods will move from one State to another, and the movement in fact occurs in pursuance of that stipulation. The mere fact that the buyer is outside Delhi, that the goods were later carried outside Delhi by the purchaser, or that forms or certificates treated the transaction as inter-State does not by itself satisfy the statutory test. On the correspondence and sale notes, the only contractual obligation discernible was supply and delivery at Delhi. There was no contractual requirement that the goods be moved to Jammu and Kashmir or Simla, and the subsequent movement, if any, was attributable only to the purchasers' own acts.

Conclusion: The sales were not in the course of inter-State trade or commerce.

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