Resale under sales tax law: preserved identity of chassis upheld despite depreciation and lapse of time.

Sale of a motor vehicle chassis qualified as resale under the Gujarat Sales Tax Act because the evidence showed the very article purchased was later sold in working order after removal of the tank. The Tribunal accepted the purchaser's affidavit and correspondence, and the Court held that mere passage of time or book depreciation did not change the goods' essential identity or take them outside the requirement of sale in the same form. Reliance on depreciated book value, without addressing the factual evidence, was held to be erroneous. The transaction was therefore treated as resale under section 7(ii), in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the sale of the motor vehicle chassis by the dealer amounted to a "resale" under section 7(ii) of the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969, on the footing that the goods were sold in the same form in which they were originally purchased.

Analysis: The Tribunal had found, on the evidence of the purchaser's affidavit and supporting correspondence, that what was sold was the chassis after removal of the tank previously mounted on it. The mere lapse of time between purchase in 1968 and sale in 1974 did not, by itself, alter the character of the goods so as to take them outside the definition of resale in section 2(26), which requires sale of purchased goods in the same form in which they were purchased. The Court held that the Assistant Commissioner had erred in relying on depreciated book value and in disregarding the factual evidence showing that the chassis remained in existence and was sold in working order.

Conclusion: The sale was rightly treated as resale under section 7(ii) of the Gujarat Sales Tax Act, 1969, and the question was answered in the affirmative in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Goods remain sold in the "same form" for the purpose of resale where their essential identity is preserved and the evidence shows that the article sold is the very purchased article, notwithstanding the passage of time or depreciation in books.

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