Integrated pumpsets and panel boards qualified for concessional tax where the goods were sold as one unit.

Panel boards purchased against Form XVII declarations and sold with submersible pumps as integrated pumpsets were treated as eligible for concessional taxation under Section 3(3) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959. Once the department accepted that the final commodity was a combined pumpset and did not dispute that the panel boards were not sold independently, it could not split the unit into separate goods to impose a higher rate on the panel boards. The proviso to Section 3(3) was held inapplicable on those facts, and consistent treatment in earlier assessment years supported the same concession absent any change in fact or law.

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Issues: Whether panel boards purchased against Form XVII declarations and sold along with submersible pumps as pumpsets were eligible for concessional taxation under Section 3(3) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, or whether they had to be treated as independent goods taxable at the higher rate.

Analysis: The admitted factual position was that the assessee sold submersible pumps and panel boards together as integrated pumpsets, and the department had not disputed that the final commodity supplied to customers comprised both items. The assessment order itself proceeded on the basis that pumpsets were sold as a combined unit, yet sought to treat the panel boards separately for tax purposes. The Court held that once the goods were accepted as an integrated set, it was not open to the department to split them into separate commodities and deny the concessional benefit. The proviso to Section 3(3) was not attracted on the facts because the panel boards were not diverted or sold independently, but were used in the manner contemplated by the declarations. The Court also noted that concessional treatment had been accepted in other assessment years on similar facts, and that the department was bound to maintain consistency absent any change in facts or law.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to the concessional rate under Section 3(3), and the higher levy on panel boards was unsustainable.

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