Consumer status for sales tax forms: dealer buying goods for export was entitled to form III-A, and refusal was unsustainable.

A registered dealer buying goods liable to tax at the point of sale to the consumer was entitled to form III-A under rule 12-A when the goods were purchased for export. The court treated "consumer" in its ordinary sense as a person taking goods for own use, not for further sale, and held that a purchaser for resale by export was not a consumer for this purpose. Rule 12-A was read as implementing the statutory presumption scheme, and the refusal to issue the prescribed forms was therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether a registered dealer purchasing goods liable to tax at the point of sale to the consumer was entitled to forms III-A under rule 12-A of the U.P. Sales Tax Rules when the goods were purchased for export, and whether rejection of the request for such forms was sustainable.

Analysis: Section 3-AA of the U.P. Sales Tax Act fixed tax only at the point of sale to the consumer, while section 3-AAA created a rebuttable presumption that sales to a registered dealer who did not purchase the goods for resale within the State or in the course of inter-State trade or commerce in the same form and condition were sales to a consumer. Rule 12-A was framed to give effect to that scheme by requiring form III-A so that the selling dealer could rebut the presumption. The expression "consumer" was read in its ordinary sense as a person who takes the goods for own use and not for further sale. A purchaser who bought goods for resale by way of export was not a consumer for this purpose, and the fact that the resale was outside the State or by export did not justify refusal of the prescribed form. Section 3-AAAA supplied the safeguard for cases where the goods did not get resold within the State or in inter-State trade or commerce, and the taxing statute had to be construed on the language used, without adding a further restriction.

Conclusion: The dealer purchasing the goods for export was entitled to form III-A, and the order refusing the forms was unsustainable.

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