Form 25 declaration denied where export arrangement was an intermediary commission deal, not a sale transaction.

Rule 32(14) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Rules, 1963 required Form 25 only where the seller was not liable to tax as the last purchaser in the State. On the contractual terms, the respondent received only a service charge or commission, while the petitioner assumed supply obligations, associated liabilities, and direct shipment to foreign buyers. The arrangement was therefore an intermediary or commission arrangement, and the description of the respondent as shipper did not alter its true character. As the request was also made after a very long delay, the petitioner was not entitled to compel issuance of the Form 25 declaration.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to compel the first respondent to issue Form 25 declaration in respect of the disputed sales transactions, and whether the underlying arrangement was a sale transaction or only an intermediary/commission arrangement.

Analysis: Rule 32(14) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Rules, 1963 required a declaration in Form 25 only where the seller was not liable to tax because he was not the last purchaser in the State. The transactions were of 1986-87 and 1987-88, but the request was made after a very long delay. The contractual terms showed that the first respondent received only a service charge or commission, while the petitioner undertook supply obligations, bore associated liabilities, and directly effected shipment to foreign buyers. The stipulations in the contract indicated that the first respondent acted as an intermediary for facilitating exports, and the mere description of the first respondent as shipper in the records did not change the true character of the arrangement.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to the Form 25 declaration, as the contract was not a sale in the relevant sense but an intermediary/commission arrangement.

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