Final local-sales assessment barred recharacterisation as inter-State sales in a later purchaser assessment.

Sales already finally assessed in the vendor's hands as local sales, with tax collected, could not later be recharacterised as inter-State sales in the petitioner's assessment on the same goods. The court held that the department could not take a contrary view after the vendor's assessments had attained finality, and the assessment order was interfered with to that extent. A separate grievance concerning stay of proceedings for a later year was found to be without substance and was not examined further.

---

---

Issues: Whether the sales made by the petitioner's vendor, having been finally assessed as local sales and tax having been collected thereon, could be treated as inter-State sales in the petitioner's assessment.

Analysis: The sales to the petitioner had already been treated as local sales in the vendors' assessments, and those assessments had attained finality. On that footing, the department could not take a contrary view at a later stage while assessing the petitioner in respect of the same goods. The Court therefore accepted the petitioner's challenge to the assessment order to that extent. The separate grievance regarding the stay of proceedings for samvat year 2037 was found to be without substance and did not require adjudication.

Conclusion: The petitioner succeeded on the question of characterization of the sales, and the goods were held to be local sales, not inter-State sales, for assessment purposes.

---