TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1997 (3) TMI 513
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.... AHMADI, C.J.I. and S.B. MAJMUDAR, J., was delivered by S.B. MAJMUDAR, J. Mrs. SUJATA V. MANOHAR, J., delivered a separate judgment. S.B. MAJMUDAR, J.-According to our esteemed colleague SUJATA V. MANOHAR, J., these appeals are required to be allowed. With profound respect, it is not possible for us to agree with her findings and the conclusions in so far as it is held by her that section 5, sub-section (2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 will cover the transactions in question. We, however, agree with her so far as it is held that section 2(ab) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 has no retrospective effect and that there is no evidence on record to attract the second part of section 5(2) which deals with sale on high seas. We, therefore, record our separate reasons for confirming the decisions impugned in these appeals. 2.. In Civil Appeals Nos. 4955 to 4977 of 1991 a common question falls for consideration. It is to the following effect: "Whether, the purchases of African raw cashewnuts made by the assessees from the Cashew Corporation of India (for short, 'the CCI') are in the course of import and, therefore immune from liability to tax under the Kerala General Sale....
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.... Bangalore. The appellant's revision before the High Court came to be dismissed by a Division Bench of the High Court by its order dated March 3, 1986 See [1986] 63 STC 90 (Kar)., and that is how the CCI is before us on special leave. 5.. It becomes, therefore, clear that a common question arises for our determination as to whether the import of raw cashewnuts by the CCI from African exporters and its purchase by actual users in India could be said to be a transaction in the course of import and, therefore, eligible for exemption under section 5(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. Both the Kerala High Court as well as the Karnataka High Court have taken the view that these transactions are not saved by section 5(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, and they are exigible to local sales tax. It is this view that has been seriously brought in challenge by Shri Poti, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellants in Civil Appeals Nos. 4955 to 4977 of 1991 and Shri Hegde, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the appellant-CCI in Civil Appeals Nos. 3647 to 3652 of 1986. The learned counsel appearing for the respondent-State of Kerala and State of Karnataka on the other hand ha....
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....rovision the sale of imported raw cashewnuts shall be deemed to take place in course of import only if such sales by CCI to the local actual users or conversely the purchases of such imported raw cashew by the local users from the CCI have occasioned such import of raw cashew. The second part of sub-section (2) of section 5 is not attracted on the facts of the present cases as factually it is not found in these cases that such sales were effected by transfer of documents of title to goods, namely, the raw cashewnuts before they crossed the customs frontiers of India. The entire controversy, therefore, centers round the short question, namely, whether the sales of these imported cashewnuts by CCI to local users were in the course of import of these cashewnuts and whether such sales had occasioned the import. 8.. There are various decisions of the Constitution Benches of this Court which have laid down clear parameters for answering this question. In the case of Ben Gorm Nilgiri Plantations Co. v. Sales Tax Officer, Special Circle, Ernakulam [1964] 15 STC 753 (SC); [1964] 7 SCR 706 a majority of the Constitution Bench of this Court, speaking through Shah, J., had an occasion to cons....
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....e of export predicates a connection between the sale and export, the two activities being so integrated that the connection between the two cannot be voluntarily interrupted, without a breach of the contract or the compulsion arising from the nature of the transaction. In the present case there was between the sale and the export no such bond as would justify the inference that the sale and the export formed parts of a single transaction or that the sale and export were integrally connected. The appellants were not concerned with the actual exportation of the goods and the sales were intended to be complete without the export, and as such it cannot be said that the said sales occasioned export. The sales were therefore for export, and not in the course of export. Therefore the sales by the appellant to the agents of foreign buyers do not come with the purview of article 286(1)(b) of the Constitution." 9.. As per the aforesaid decision of the Constitution Bench before a sale can be said to have taken place in the course of export the export must have a direct nexus with the sale and the activity of sale and export must be completely inter-linked. On the same reasoning as in the afo....
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....casioned import it is necessary that the sale should be preceded the import. That it was quite clear on the facts that it was incidental to the contract that the axle-box bodies would be manufactured in Belgium, inspected there, and imported into India for the consignee. Movement of goods from Belgium to India was in pursuance of the conditions of the contract between the assessee and the Director-General of Supplies. There was no possibility of those goods being diverted by the assessee for any other purpose. Consequently the sales took place in the course of import of goods within section 5(2) and, therefore, were exempt from taxation. The facts of the aforesaid case indicate that the assessee was the agent of the foreign seller. The principals were in Belgium. They exported the goods through the agency of the appellant and sold them to the Director-General of Civil Supplies, New Delhi, who was the consignee. Thus the entire transaction was an integrated transaction by which a foreign seller through its Indian agent, namely, the assessee sold the goods to Indian purchaser, namely, the Director-General of Civil Supplies. Consequently it was treated as one integrated transaction ....
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....als would obviously be required to be met before the sale can be said to be in the course of import, (i) there must be a sale; (ii) the goods must actually be imported; and (iii) the sale must be part and parcel of the import. Consequently it must be shown by the appellants that the sale by CCI to the local users of imported raw cashewnuts had occasioned the import and such a sale was a part and parcel of the import. If there are two independent sales, one by a foreign exporter to CCI and second sale by CCI to the local users, the link between the import of raw cashewnuts and their actual delivery to their actual users would be broken. The integrated course of import would then be found wanting. The next Constitution Bench judgment is rendered in the case of State of Bihar v. Tata Engineering Locomotive Co. Ltd. [1971] 27 STC 127 (SC); (1970) 3 SCC 697. In that case the Constitution Bench of this Court had to examine pari materia provision found in article 286(2) of the Constitution dealing with sales in the course of inter-State trade or commerce. Hegde, J., speaking for the Constitution Bench, made the following pertinent observations in paragraph 14 of the repo....
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.... foreign sellers. The foreign sellers did not enter into any contract by themselves or through the agency of the petitioner with the DGS & D and the movement of goods from the foreign countries was not occasioned on account of the sales by the petitioner to DGS & D. It was further held that though under the contract DGS & D undertook to provide all facilities for the import of the goods for fulfilling the contracts including an Import Recommendation Certificate, there was no absolute obligation on the DGS & D to procure these facilities. And it was the obligation of the petitioner to obtain the import licence. Therefore, even if the contracts envisaged the import of goods and their supply to the DGS & D from out of the goods imported, it did not follow that the movement of the goods in the course of import was occasioned by the contracts of sale by the petitioner with DGS & D. As we will presently show, the ratio of the decision of the aforesaid Constitution Bench directly gets attracted on the facts of the present cases. Substituting DGS & D for local users and the petitioners in that case by the CCI it becomes clear that on the same reasoning by which the Constitution Bench held....
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.... connection between the sale and export. No single test can be laid as decisive for determining that question. Each case must depend upon its facts. But it does not mean that distinction between transactions which may be called sales for export and sales in the course of export is not real. Where the sale is effected by the seller and the seller is not connected with the export which actually takes place, it is a sale for export. Where the export is the result of sale, the export being inextricably linked up with sale so that the bond cannot be dissociated without a breach of the obligations arising by statute, contract or mutual understanding between the parties arising from the nature of the transaction, the sale is in the course of export." 11.. While considering the question whether the sale is in the course of export, the Constitution Bench considered the further question whether there should be a single sale or there can be two or more independent sales. In this connection, it was observed that there must be a single sale which itself causes the export and there is no room for two or more sales in the course of export. The sale which is to be regarded as exempt is a sale whi....
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....ovement of goods and export was the contract between the foreign buyer who was the importer and the Corporation who was the exporter and shipper of the goods. All relevant documents were in the name of the Corporation whose contract of sale was the occasion of the export. The expression 'occasions' in section 5 of the Act means the immediate and direct cause. But for the contract between the Corporation and the foreign buyer, there was no occasion for export. Therefore, the export was occasioned by the contract of sale between the Corporation and the foreign buyer and not by the contract of sale between the Corporation and the appellant. The appellant sold the goods directly to the Corporation. The circumstance that the appellant did so to facilitate the performance of the contract between the Corporation and the foreign buyer on terms which were similar did not make the contract between the appellant and the Corporation the immediate cause of the export." 12.. Sales or purchases through canalising agencies who export or import goods were also considered in paragraph 28 of the Report. It was held that system of canalisation of exports or imports through the State Trading C....
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....ral Income-tax and Sales Tax v. Kotak & Co. [1973] 32 STC 6 (SC); (1974) 3 SCC 148. The said decision was rendered in the light of the peculiar facts of the case which came up for consideration of this Court. The Bench speaking through Hegde, J., noted the fact that the assessee-firm before them had imported cotton against actual user's import licence granted to the mills concerned and was selling the cotton to them. That the assessee was also precluded from selling to anybody other than the mills to whom the user's import licence had been granted. It was also noted that the assessee-firm had entered into contract with the mills, dated March 20, 1964, that the import licence issued in favour of the mills was made available to the firm for utilisation of the contract, that the letter of authority authorising the firm to import cotton was also issued. That the bill of lading obtained by the foreign supplier on shipment of the goods was also obtained by the firm and the cotton was thus sent to India. On the peculiar facts of that case, therefore, it was held that the assessee-firm was acting on behalf of the Indian importer mills concerned. Consequently it must be held that t....
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....ed sales in the course of import, was upheld by this Court. Tulzapurkar, J., speaking for this Court, observed that there was an integral connection between the sale to the local purchaser and the actual import of the goods from the foreign supplier. The movement of goods from foreign country like United States to India was in pursuance of the conditions of the pre-existing contract of sale between the respondent-assessee and the local purchaser. The import of the goods by the respondent-assessee was for and on behalf of the local purchaser and the respondent-assessee could not, without committing a breach of the contract, divert the goods so imported for any other purpose. In paragraph 4 of the Report it was further observed in the light of various decisions of this Court to which we have made a reference earlier, that in order that the sale should be one in the course of import it must occasion the import and to occasion the import there must be integral connection or inextricable link between the first sale following the import and the actual import provided by an obligation to import arising from statute, contract or mutual understanding or nature of the transaction which links....
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....ile upholding the said amendment it was held that section 5(3) of the Central Sales Tax Act has been enacted to extend the exemption from tax liability under the Act not to any kind of penultimate sale but only to such penultimate sale as satisfies the two conditions specified therein, namely, (a) that such penultimate sale must take place (i.e., become complete) after the agreement or order under which the goods are to be exported and (b) it must be for the purpose of complying with such agreement or order and it is only then that such penultimate sale is deemed to be a sale in the course of export. The aforesaid decision, therefore, is confined to the validity of the amended provision which itself postulates that but for such amendment the penultimate sale would have remained outside the sweep of section 5, sub-section (1) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 and such penultimate sale could not have been treated as sale in the course of export. Even that apart for interpreting the identical phraseology "in the course of" found both in section 5(1) and section 5(2) this decision by three learned Judges' Bench could naturally not be of any assistance to the appellants as obviously....
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....ion emerging from the Constitution Bench decisions of this Court the following propositions clearly get projected for deciding whether the concerned sale or purchase of goods can be deemed to take place in the course of import as laid down by section 5(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956: (1) The sale or the purchase, as the case may be, must actually take place. (2) Such sale or purchase in India must itself occasion such import, and not vice versa, i.e., import should not occasion such sale. (3) The goods must have entered the import stream when they are subjected to sale or purchase. (4) The import of the concerned goods must be effected as a direct result of the concerned sale or purchase transaction. (5) The course of import can be taken to have continued till the imported goods reach the local users only if the import has commenced through the agreement between foreign exporter and an intermediary who does not act on his own in the transaction with the foreign exporter and who in his turn does not sell as principal the imported goods to the local users. (6) There must be either a single sale which itself causes the import or is in the progress or process of import or ....
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....les in the present cases effected by the CCI in favour of the local users were in course of import of raw cashew from African countries. We may state that a clear finding of fact is reached by the Tribunal in cases arising out of revisions before the Kerala High Court and also by the Karnataka High Court in the appeals by CCI that neither the CCI nor the assessee had led any evidence to show that goods were sold by transfer of documents of title on high seas, and hence it had to be held that CCI had not sold the goods to local users on high seas and before the goods crossed the customs frontiers of India and resultantly the latter part of section 5(2) is not attracted on the facts of these cases. Consequently it is not necessary to dilate on these aspects any further. Now is the time for us to take stock of the situation and to see whether the aforesaid requirements for the applicability of section 5(2) have been met in the present cases or not. 20.. Prior to September, 1970 the assessees imported raw cashewnuts from African countries under an Open General Licence. After processing these cashewnuts the assessees exported cashewnut kernels to other countries. By a notification is....
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.... CCI therefore has obtained a complete and indefeasible title to the goods purchased by them from foreign sellers. (g) The transaction under which the raw cashewnuts were put on board the ship did not create any real rights and obligations as between the foreign sellers and the assessees although the raw cashewnuts are supposedly imported for their benefit. (h) The circumstance that the contract between CCI and the foreign sellers was in the CIF form strengthens the position that there were two distinct, independent and unconnected purchases. (i) Sale prices for distribution of goods to actual users will be determined by the public sector agency concerned subject to the guidance and general control of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. In this connection it will also be profitable to keep in view the findings recorded by the Kerala Appellate Tribunal based on relevant evidence on record. At page 88 of the paper book is found a letter dated November 4, 1970 addressed by CCI to one similarly situated local user Bakul Cashew Co., Quilon. The said letter calls upon the local user to furnish requisite bank guarantee for the entire value of the goods allotted to it or in the alternative....
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....nnexure "I" at page 99 of the paper book shows that the goods for the import of which the licence has been granted shall be the property of the licensee at the time of clearance through the customs. It was submitted by the learned Senior Counsel for the appellants that that was a mistaken condition imposed in the subsidiary licence. Be that as it may, during the relevant period of assessment such subsidiary licence clearly showed that the main licence to import was in favour of CCI and the sub-licence was available to the local user who could become the owner of the goods imported only after making full payment of the goods to the CCI and after getting clearance of the goods through the customs. Even the letter of authority given by the Ministry of Foreign Trade to CCI as importer of the goods to permit the indentor to clear imported goods through the customs also reflects the same position. The Kerala Tribunal in paragraph 21 of its judgment has found that the allottees cannot claim absolute ownership of the goods before customs clearance as it is evidenced from a letter dated February 29, 1971 sent by the Cashew Corporation of India to certain allottees, wherein it has been spec....
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....e wholesale importer in favour of the local users for whom the goods are indented. That independent sale which may be based even on a prior agreement of sale by CCI to local users would remain an independent transaction between importer CCI and the local purchaser, namely, the local user. There is no privity of contract between the local users on the one hand and the foreign exporter on the other. These two transactions cannot be said to be so integrally inter-connected as to represent one composite transaction in the course of import of raw cashewnuts as tried to be submitted by learned Senior Counsel for the appellants. On the facts of these cases, therefore, the decisions of the Constitution Benches of this Court in Serajuddin's case [1975] 36 STC 136; (1975) 2 SCC 47 and in the case of Binani Bros. [1974] 33 STC 254; (1974) 1 SCC 459 get squarely attracted and as a result these sales by the CCI to the local users go out of the sweep of the exemption provisions engrafted by section 5(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. The conclusions to which the Kerala and Karnataka High Courts reached, therefore, cannot be faulted. 22.. The alternative contention canvassed on beha....
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....e cases. With great respect to our esteemed colleague Sujata V. Manohar, J., it is not possible to agree with her conclusion that there is a direct and inseverable link between the transaction of sale and the import of goods on account of the nature of the understanding between the parties as also by reason of the canalising scheme pertaining to the import of cashewnuts. Nor it is possible for us to agree with her finding that these transactions are covered by the exemption provisions of section 5(2) of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. In view of our findings that these transactions are not covered by the exemption provisions of section 5(2) all the appeals are liable to fail and are accordingly dismissed, however, with no order as to costs. Civil Appeals Nos. 4955-77/91, 1167-71/92 and 1546/93: Mrs. SUJATA V. MANOHAR, J.-The assessees are processors of cashewnuts in Kerala. Prior to September 1970 the assessees imported raw cashewnuts from African countries under an open general licence. After processing these cashewnuts the assessees exported cashewnut kernel to other countries. By a notification issued under the Import Trade (Control) Order bearing No. 3-1970 dated August 31,....
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.... The transactions which are the subject-matter of controversy in these appeals, however, are identical with the transactions which are the subject-matter of appeals in the Kerala matters. 26.. Before we decide whether the import of cashewnut by the Cashew Corporation of India and the purchase of cashewnuts by the assessees/processors from the Cashew Corporation of India is in the course of import or whether it is a local sale liable to tax under the Kerala or Karnataka General Sales Tax Act, it is necessary to set out the exact nature of the transaction in question. 27.. The Import Trade (Control) Policy for April 1971-March 1972, in Part B, paragraph 51 deals with import through public sector agencies. Under the sub-heading "Canalisation of Imports", it states that import of certain items will be arranged only through public sector agencies. The canalising agency in the case of cashewnuts is the Cashew Corporation of India Ltd. Under the Import Trade (Control) Handbook of Rules and Procedures, 1970 the procedure for imports through public sector agencies is set out. It, inter alia, states that the canalising agency will pool the import requirements of actual users and import wil....
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....rmarked lots. A simultaneous letter of authority was also issued by the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports in favour of the allottee in respect of the lot concerning which the allottee was given a sub-licence. On the marine insurance taken by the Cashew Corporation of India a separate endorsement was taken in the name of each allottee and the premium was included in the CIF value of the goods so despatched. The steamer agent issued a delivery order to the processors' clearing agent and the goods were accordingly cleared by the clearing agents of the processors. The Cashew Corporation of India charged to the assessee the price which it had paid to the foreign seller and a commission for their work as a canalising agency. 29.. Thus it is clear that although the canalising agency placed a bulk order for the import of cashewnuts and opened a letter of credit in favour of the foreign sellers, the bulk order so placed was a sum total of the requirements of all the processors of cashewnuts in whose favour allotment orders were issued. The Cashew Corporation of India had from the inception marked separately each lot imported by it in favour of each allottee. It had also in turn, prep....
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....heir movement from one State to another. 5.. When is a sale or purchase of goods said to take place in the course of import or export.-(1) A sale or purchase of goods shall be deemed to take place in the course of the export of the goods out of the territory of India only if the sale or purchase either occasions such export or is effected by a transfer of documents of title to the goods after the goods have crossed the customs frontiers of India. (2) A sale or purchase of goods shall be deemed to take place in the course of the import of the goods into the territory of India only if the sale or purchase either occasions such import or is effected by a transfer of documents of title to the goods before the goods have crossed the customs frontiers of India. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the last sale or purchase of any goods preceding the sale or purchase occasioning the export of those goods out of the territory of India shall also be deemed to be in the course of such export, if such last sale or purchase took place after, and was for the purpose of complying with, the agreement or order for or in relation to such export." Clearly, therefore, the l....
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....lication of section 5 is not confined to such contracts alone as the cases cited hereafter will show. If only a one-sale test were to be applied, these would be the only contracts qualifying for exemption. Such is not the interpretation put on sections 3 and 5 because in several cases this Court has considered even a sale other than an import sale or an export sale as a sale in the course of import or export if there is a direct connection between the sale and the import or the export. 32.. The distinction between an independent sale and a linked sale is clearly brought out by a Constitution Bench of this Court in the case of Ben Gorm Nilgiri Plantations Co. v. Sales Tax Officer [1964] 15 STC 753; [1964] 7 SCR 706 at 711 which decided the requirements of a sale in the course of export (two Judges dissenting). In this case, the appellants carried on the business of growing and manufacturing tea. The purchasers were local agents of foreign buyers. The sales were by public auction. It was the common case of all the appellants that the purchases by the local agents of the foreign buyers were with a view to export the goods to their principal abroad and in fact the tea was exported. Th....
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....sessee and the Director-General of Supplies. There was no possibility of those goods being diverted by the assessee for any other purpose. Consequently, the sales took place in the course of imports. 35.. The next important case decided by this Court deals with a sale in the course of export of goods. This is the case of Coffee Board v. Joint Commercial Tax Officer [1970] 25 STC 528 (SC); (1969) 3 SCC 349. It is a decision of a Constitution Bench of this Court with one Judge dissenting. In this case, the Coffee Board had sold coffee which was to be exported out of India. Such coffee for export was specially screened and selected. Auctions were held known as "Export Auctions" for sale of this coffee. The purchasers at such auctions subsequently exported the coffee. The question was whether the sale by the Coffee Board to the local purchaser would be considered as a sale in the course of export. The court said that in order that the sale may occasion the export or cause the export, such a sale must be the immediate cause of export. Therefore, the introduction of a third party dealing independently with the seller on the one hand and with the foreign importer on the other hand, brok....
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.... 6 (SC); (1974) 3 SCC 148 the assessee-firm was engaged in the supply of foreign cotton to textile mills on the basis of actual user's import licences issued to the textile mills. The assessee-firm contacted the foreign suppliers and if the offers received were found acceptable to the mills, the assessee entered into a contract with the concerned mill and on that basis, accepted the offer made by the foreign supplier. The textile mill issued a letter of authority authorising the assessee-firm to import cotton. One of the terms of the letter of authority was that the person or firm in whose favour it has been issued will purely act as an agent of the licensee and the licence holder will have to ensure that the goods on importation will be delivered to him and shall not be disposed of otherwise. This clause was read as a part of the contract entered into between the assessee and the textile mills. This Court held that from the facts as set out above it was clear that the case fell within the rule laid down by this Court in K.G. Khosla's case [1966] 17 STC 473 (SC); [1966] 3 SCR 352. The sale was in the course of import although there were two sales, one entered into by the assessee ....
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....] 3 SCR 352. It distinguished Binani Bros. case [1974] 33 STC 254 (SC); (1974) 1 SCC 459 on two material aspects: (1) In that case the assessee itself held the import licence and the goods were imported on the strength of such an import licence and (2) there was no term or condition prohibiting diversion of the goods after the import. However, in the case before them, the integral connection or inextricable link between the transaction of sale and the actual import were established. 40.. In the case of State of Bihar v. Tata Engineering & Locomotive Co. Ltd. [1971] 27 STC 127 (SC); (1970) 3 SCC 697, a Constitution Bench of this Court considered the provisions of section 3 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, to decide what can be considered as a sale in the course of inter-State trade or commerce. Noting the similarity in language between sections 3 and 5, the court relied upon the decisions of this Court dealing with sections 5(1) and 5(2). In the case before the court the assessee sold their trucks, buses, chassis and spare parts to the appointed dealers for the purpose of being sold in the territories outside the State assigned to these dealers under the dealership agreement. Th....
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.... cases dealing with exports, the court found that the local sale lacked this essential ingredient because the local seller of the goods had no interest in seeing that the goods were exported, although the local purchaser may have bought the goods for export. To the local seller, it was immaterial whether the goods were in fact exported or not. So that there was no understanding between the local seller and the local buyer that the goods must be exported. 42.. This seldom happens in the case of imports whenever the local seller imports the goods as per the specifications of a specific local buyer and on the mutual understanding between the local buyer and the local seller that the goods so imported by the local seller will be purchased by the local buyer. There is in such cases, a direct link between the local sale and the import. In fact it is this mutual understanding between the local buyer and the local seller which occasions the import. That is why the cases dealing with imports have not resorted to differentiating between one sale or two sales. They have applied the test as prescribed by section 5: whether the import is a result of understanding/contract between the local buy....
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....ation is made in favour of each of the local purchasers. The orders for import are placed to comply with the specific requirements of the local purchasers. A default clause cannot alter the nature of the transaction between the local purchaser and the canalising agency. The very term "canalising agency" in the context of the canalisation scheme as set out earlier strengthens the argument that the imports were effected on behalf of and/or for the benefit of the local purchaser who had agreed to purchase these cashewnuts. The fact that only a commission is charged by the canalising agency from the local purchasers also reinforces this conclusion. In these circumstances, the fact that a bulk order is placed by the canalising agency with the foreign supplier does not snap the link between the transaction of sale by the Cashew Corporation of India to the assessees and the import of cashewnuts by the Cashew Corporation of India. It is the local sale which has given rise to the import. It will qualify as a sale in the course of import. 45.. The respondent-State has placed strong reliance on the case of Mod. Serajuddin [1975] 36 STC 136 (SC); (1975) 2 SCC 47. It was contended that in the ....
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.... applied to both the sub-sections. There is no express amendment as far as imports are concerned which can assist the processors in the present case. It may be that such an amendment was not necessary in the case of imports because the difficulty with the penultimate sales had mainly arisen in the case of exports. However, whether it is exports or imports or inter-State sales, what needs to be emphasised is the basic requirement prescribed under sections 3 and 5, namely, that the transaction in question must occasion either the export or the import or the movement of goods from one State to another. This clearly postulates an inseverable link between the transaction of sale in question and the import or export or movement of goods from one State to another, as the case may be. The one sale test referred to in some cases dealing with exports is only an aspect of this basic test. We are concerned with a sale which occasions an import. Therefore, we have to see whether there is such an inextricable and direct link between local sales which are before us and the import of cashewnuts from African countries into India by the Cashew Corporation of India. The facts already set out show th....