Single-point sales tax on bardana upheld; later intra-State resale not taxable and discrimination challenge failed.

The Punjab General Sales Tax scheme permitted single-point taxation on bardana at the first stage of sale, so a later intra-State sale was not taxable. A challenge alleging discrimination failed because rice millers and similar dealers were not shown to be in the same class as the exempted categories under the rules. No violation of natural justice was found, and the statutory framework supported recovery of tax wrongly collected on subsequent sales.

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Issues: Whether the notification levying sales tax on bardana at the first stage of sale under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, and the consequential recovery of tax already collected on subsequent sales, were liable to be quashed.

Analysis: The notification validly fixed the first stage of sale for levy of tax on bardana. Purchases by the petitioners had already borne tax at that stage, and a later sale to the department was only a second sale within the State and was not taxable. The claim that the notification was discriminatory failed because rice millers and similar dealers were not shown to be in the same class as the exempted categories referred to in the rules. No principle of natural justice was violated, and the scheme of sales tax permitted single-point taxation on selected goods.

Conclusion: The challenge to the notification failed, and the petition was dismissed.

Final Conclusion: The levy of tax at the first stage on bardana was upheld, and no interference was warranted with the recovery of tax wrongly collected on subsequent sales.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute authorises single-point taxation at the first stage of sale, a later intra-State sale is not taxable, and a challenge based on discrimination or natural justice fails unless the impugned classification is shown to be legally unsustainable.

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