Export-linked turnover deduction upheld where goods were proved exported through a series of transactions.

Export-linked turnover was deductible under the Punjab General Sales Tax Rules where goods sold to the State Trading Corporation were proved to have been exported out of India, whether through one transaction or a series of transactions. The deduction provision was treated as independent and more liberal than section 5 of the Central Sales Tax Act, so the earlier restrictive export-sale principle did not apply on these facts. As the legal issue had already been settled, the court did not require a further reference merely to prolong the matter, and the referred question was answered in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue.

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Issues: Whether turnover relating to goods sold to the State Trading Corporation for export could be deducted under rule 29(v) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Rules, 1949, and whether the question could be answered straightaway in the reference petition.

Analysis: The deduction claim turned on whether the sale to the intermediary corporation was a sale preceding export or a transaction covered by the export-linked deduction provision. The governing rule was treated as an independent and self-contained provision, more liberal than section 5 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, and it permitted deduction where goods were proved to have been exported out of India whether by one transaction or by a series of transactions. The earlier restrictive export-sale principle was held inapplicable on the facts in view of the later Division Bench view, and the court also applied the principle that where the legal issue is already settled, a formal reference should not be insisted upon merely to prolong the matter.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the deduction, and the question was answered in its favour and against the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The export-linked turnover was held deductible under the State rules, and the petition was finally disposed of by answering the referred question without directing a further reference.

Ratio Decidendi: Rule 29(v) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Rules, 1949 is an independent, liberal deduction provision that allows exclusion from taxable turnover of goods proved to have been exported out of India through one transaction or a series of transactions.

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