Entry tax liability stays with the importer and cannot be passed to the buyer after a concluded sale.

Entry tax under the Assam Entry Tax Act, 2001 is imposed on the statutory importer of scheduled goods brought into a local area, and the Act contains no authority to recover that tax from a purchaser after the sale is concluded. The text states that once the wheat sale price had been fixed and realised, the seller could not unilaterally enhance the agreed price by passing on its entry tax burden to the buyer. On that reasoning, the demand against the purchaser was said to be unsustainable because liability remained with the importer and could not be shifted in the absence of legislative authority.

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Issues: Whether the entry tax demanded in respect of wheat imported by the Food Corporation of India could be recovered from the petitioner-purchaser by adding it to the sale price or otherwise passing on the tax burden, and whether the impugned demand was sustainable under the Assam Entry Tax Act, 2001.

Analysis: Section 3 of the Assam Entry Tax Act, 2001 is the charging provision and fastens liability on the importer of scheduled goods brought into a local area for consumption, use or sale. Section 6 reinforces that entry tax is attracted on entry of the goods by the importer, and the Act contains no provision authorising recovery of such tax from the buyer of goods after the sale transaction is complete. The sale price of the wheat had already been fixed and realised, and once the transaction stood concluded, the seller could not unilaterally enhance the agreed price by subsequently loading the tax paid or payable by it. The scheme of the Act therefore did not permit the importer to shift its liability to the petitioner in the facts of the case.

Conclusion: The demand against the petitioner was unsustainable, as the liability to pay entry tax remained on the importer and could not be passed on to the purchaser in the absence of statutory authority.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the impugned demand was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Entry tax is recoverable only from the statutory importer, and in the absence of legislative authority the importer cannot shift that liability to the buyer or retrospectively augment a concluded sale price by adding the tax burden.

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