Review maintainable on new facts; export-linked exemption failed, so branch-transferred coffee seed turnover remained liable to purchase tax.

Review was maintainable because later verification of the assessee's CST records disclosed new and material facts, including entries showing the turnover as a branch transfer, which had not been before the Tribunal when the original order was made. The claimed export-linked exemption also failed: to attract Section 5(3) of the CST Act, the assessee had to prove an agreement or order in relation to export, but it produced no such material and relied only on branch movement records that did not establish a penultimate sale for export. The coffee seed turnover was therefore liable to purchase tax under Section 7-A(1)(c), and the tax and penalty were sustained.

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Issues: (i) Whether the State's review application under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 was maintainable on the ground of discovery of new and important facts; (ii) Whether the turnover relating to coffee seeds transferred to the Karnataka branch was liable to purchase tax under Section 7-A(1)(c) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 or exempt as a stock transfer in the course of export.

Issue (i): Whether the State's review application under the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 was maintainable on the ground of discovery of new and important facts.

Analysis: Review under Section 36(6)(a) is confined to discovery of new and important facts which, despite due diligence, were not within knowledge or could not be produced when the original order was made. Verification of the assessee's CST records disclosed an inconsistent stand between the State Act and the Central Act, including disclosure of the turnover as branch transfer and the related CST return entries. That material was not before the Tribunal when the earlier appellate order was passed.

Conclusion: The review application was maintainable.

Issue (ii): Whether the turnover relating to coffee seeds transferred to the Karnataka branch was liable to purchase tax under Section 7-A(1)(c) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 or exempt as a stock transfer in the course of export.

Analysis: Exemption under Section 5(3) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 requires proof of the agreement or order in relation to export. The assessee did not produce such material and relied only on branch movement supported by forms which did not establish that the entire transaction was a penultimate sale for export. The goods were first purchased within Tamil Nadu, moved to Karnataka, and the record did not show that the turnover was wholly covered by the statutory export exemption. The Tribunal also found that the assessee had itself treated the movement as branch transfer in CST returns, bringing the purchase within the purchase-tax provision.

Conclusion: The turnover was liable to purchase tax under Section 7-A(1)(c) and the exemption claim failed.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the Tribunal's review order failed, and the levy of tax and penalty on the disputed turnover was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Review is maintainable when later verification reveals new and material facts not before the Tribunal, and exemption for a claimed export-linked transfer is unavailable unless the statutory requirements for a sale in the course of export are strictly proved.

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