Turnover includes sales tax collected for turnover tax under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act; Revenue challenge failed.

For levy of turnover tax under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963, "turnover" was treated as the aggregate amount for which goods are bought or sold, and sales tax collected by the assessee formed part of that aggregate. The court applied an earlier Division Bench interpretation that had already included sales tax in turnover, and held that the same meaning governed section 5(2A) because no different construction was justified for turnover tax. On that basis, sales tax collected was includible in turnover, and the Revenue's revision failed.

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Issues: Whether sales tax collected by the assessee could be included in turnover for the purpose of levy of turnover tax under section 5(2A) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963.

Analysis: The question was treated as concluded by the earlier Division Bench decision, which had construed "turnover" as the aggregate amount for which goods are bought or sold and had held that sales tax collected is included in that aggregate. On that basis, the same meaning of turnover was held applicable while levying turnover tax under section 5(2A), since there was no reason to adopt a different meaning for turnover tax.

Conclusion: Sales tax collected was includible in turnover for the purpose of turnover tax under section 5(2A), and the revision filed by the Revenue failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For levy of turnover tax under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, the expression "turnover" includes sales tax collected as part of the aggregate amount for which goods are bought or sold.

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