1992 (2) TMI 345

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....hat the sales in dispute were in the course of import and, therefore, not assessable to tax?"   The assessment order in question relates to the year 1972-73. The facts as found by the Tribunal are as follows: "The controversy pertains to sales worth Rs. 4,77,419.94 which the assessee claimed were in the course of imports and, therefore, exempt from levy of sales tax. The background of the facts in this regard is that the Controller of Imports and Exports issued actual user's import licences in favour of different parties for the import of electric typewriters, etc. Those parties then contacted the assessee for their import and supply. These typewriters, etc., were mostly manufactured by the parent concerns of the assessee in West....

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.... stage of assessment, the assessee claimed that it simply acted as an agent of these import licence holders, and as such it could not be said that any sales were effected by it in their favour. All that it did was to import typewriters, etc., from its overseas manufacturers for and on behalf of the licence holders. In any case it was urged that in case the transactions were treated as sales, they were essentially in the course of import and, therefore, exempt from levy of sales tax under section 5 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. These contentions, however, did not prevail with the authorities below and they held that there were two distinct contracts one by the assessee for purchase of typewriters, etc., from the foreign manufactu....

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.... to deliver them to any third party. In the import documents also the names of the licence holders and on whose behalf the articles were being imported were to be specified. These circumstances thus bring out the role of an intermediary or an agent which the assessee played. The licence holders instead of importing the articles directly from the manufacturers considered it more convenient and advantageous to get them imported through the assessee which specialised in this category of goods. The property in the goods had to throughout remain with the licence holders and the assessee was not competent to dispose them of otherwise. It was obliged to deliver the imported goods to the licence holders. The cumulative effect of these circumstan....