Stock transfer under CST survives later cancellation of registration where valid documents were accepted when the transaction occurred.

A dealer claiming stock transfer under Section 6A of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 is entitled to rely on F forms and a subsisting registration certificate when the transfer is supported by dispatch evidence and accepted by the assessing authority at the relevant time. Later administrative invalidation of the forms or retrospective cancellation of the consignee's registration cannot undo a transaction already verified as genuine. The Bombay High Court therefore upheld the assessee's claim and rejected the challenge to the Tribunal's order.

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Issues: Whether the subsequent declaration that F forms were obsolete and invalid, and the later cancellation of the consignee's registration, could defeat the assessee's claim that the movement of goods was otherwise than by sale under Section 6(A) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.

Analysis: The assessee had complied with the requirements of Section 6(A) by furnishing F forms and supporting evidence of dispatch, and the forms had been verified by the assessing authority, which had earlier accepted the claim and issued intimation allowing transfer to agent. The later attempt to disallow the forms rested on a 2016 notification and on the retrospective effect of cancellation of the agent's registration. The governing principle applied was that a dealer is entitled to act on a registration certificate while it remains effective, and later cancellation or later administrative invalidation cannot undo transactions already supported by valid documents and accepted by the department when the transaction occurred.

Conclusion: The subsequent invalidation of the F forms and cancellation of the agent's registration did not affect the assessee's entitlement to deduction for the earlier stock transfer.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the Tribunal's order failed, and the assessee's claim based on the stock transfer was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Subsequent retrospective cancellation or later invalidation of a consignee's registration or supporting forms cannot defeat a dealer's claim where the transfer was supported by valid documents and accepted as genuine at the relevant time.

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