Transit goods and entry check-post security: routine call deposits are not authorised when declarations are correct and complete.

Entry check-post security for livestock in transit through Assam to another State cannot be demanded as a routine measure when declarations are correct and complete. Section 46 of the Assam General Sales Tax Act, 1993 limits security to situations where the declaration is defective and the officer, after enquiry, is satisfied that security is necessary to prevent tax evasion. Transit pass provisions create a presumption of intra-State sale only if the pass is not duly delivered at the exit check-post. The statutory power is therefore confined to incomplete declarations, suspected evasion, or failure to account for the goods at exit, and does not support blanket collection of call deposit on entry.

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Issues: Whether the authorities could demand and collect call deposit or other security at the entry check-post from vehicles carrying livestock in transit through Assam to another State when the declarations were correct and complete, and what was the scope of Sections 46(5)(b)(ii) and 46(15) of the Assam General Sales Tax Act, 1993.

Analysis: Section 46(5)(b)(i) and the first limb of Section 46(5)(b)(ii) operate where there is a taxable sale or purchase of goods and tax has not been paid or the transaction has not been properly accounted for. In the case of goods moving from outside Assam to another place outside Assam, the taxable event within the State does not arise merely on entry into Assam. Section 46(15) requires the obtaining and return of transit passes and creates a presumption of sale within the State only if the pass is not duly delivered at the exit check-post. That provision does not authorise routine collection of security or call deposit at the entry check-post. Security may be demanded only where the declaration is not correct and complete and, on enquiry, the officer is satisfied that such security is necessary to prevent evasion of tax.

Conclusion: The demand for call deposit as a general measure at the entry check-post was not authorised, and the petitioner was entitled to relief to that extent. The authorities were, however, left free to demand tax or security where declarations were not correct and complete or where goods were not accounted for at the exit check-post.

Final Conclusion: The impugned demand was set aside in its sweeping form, and the statutory power was confined to cases involving incomplete declarations, suspected evasion, or failure to account for the goods at exit.

Ratio Decidendi: Under Section 46 of the Assam General Sales Tax Act, 1993, entry check-post security cannot be demanded as a matter of course for transit goods moving from outside the State to another place outside the State; such security is permissible only where the statutory declaration is defective and prevention of tax evasion so requires.

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