Retrospective sales tax amendment changed inter-State sale treatment, leaving the assessee liable under the amended law.

A retrospective amendment to the sales tax law altered the basis of the earlier Full Bench view on whether goods in the State could still be treated as inside-State sales when the transactions were in the course of inter-State trade and commerce. Proceeding on the law as amended, the Court held that the prior interpretation no longer controlled, and the validity of the amending Act could not be examined in reference jurisdiction on the challenge raised. The questions were answered in favour of the Revenue, so the assessee was liable to Orissa sales tax.

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Issues: Whether, after the retrospective amendment to the sales tax law, sales in the course of inter-State trade and commerce could still be treated as inside-State sales if the goods were inside the State, and whether the assessee was liable to pay Orissa sales tax.

Analysis: The questions had earlier been answered in favour of the assessee on the basis of prior Full Bench decisions, but the law was subsequently amended retrospectively by the amending Act of 1978. The amended provision altered the legal foundation on which the earlier view rested. Since the challenge to the validity of the amending Act was only prospective and vires could not be examined in reference jurisdiction, the Court proceeded on the law as it stood after amendment.

Conclusion: The questions were answered in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee.

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