Purchase tax cannot be imposed where sale tax is leviable and only collection was not made on supari transactions.

Purchase tax under Section 12 of the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 could not be levied on supari dispatched outside the State because tax remained leviable on its sale under Section 10. Section 12 applies only when the dealer purchases taxable goods in circumstances where no tax is leviable on the sale price, so the statutory precondition for purchase tax was absent. The distinction between levy and collection was material: non-collection of tax did not negate the existence of levy or liability. The assessment and appellate orders were therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether purchase tax under Section 12 of the Assam Value Added Tax Act, 2003 could be levied on supari dispatched outside the State when tax was otherwise leviable on its sale under Section 10 of the Act, and whether non-collection of tax on the sale price permitted invocation of Section 12.

Analysis: Section 12 applies only where the dealer purchases taxable goods in circumstances in which no tax under Section 10 is leviable on the sale price of such goods. On a conjoint reading of Sections 10 and 12, supari was a taxable commodity on which tax was leviable under Section 10 at the relevant time, so the statutory condition for purchase tax under Section 12 was absent. The distinction between levy and collection is material: absence of collection does not mean absence of levy or liability. The authorities therefore misapplied the two provisions.

Conclusion: Purchase tax under Section 12 could not be levied on the petitioner's purchase of supari, and the assessment and appellate orders were unsustainable.

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