TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (4) TMI 1243
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....s goods including coal vide notification (P. 2) dated 28th May, 2001. Ministry of Forest directed the Chief Conservator of Forest to charge transit fee while issuing the transit passes as per letter dated 28-5-2001 that the transit fee payable shall be paid to issuing department in the single window procedure for issue of transit passes which shall be deposited in the Forest Department. The Revenue and Mining Department will issue passes. Royalty as well as the transit fee has to be paid, thereafter transit passes will be issued to the lessees. Before issue of transit passes along with royalty transit fees has to be deposited with respect to minerals which are extracted from the forest area. Vide communication (P. 4) dated 7-2-2002 the petitioner was informed by the DFO with respect to deposit of transit fee along with royalty. The petitioner was required to make payment of transit fee with effect from 1-6-2001 to 31-1-2002 under the prescribed rate of Rs. 7 per ton. Collector also wrote to the petitioner for depositing the requisite transit fee. The petitioner had deposited the amount under protest. 3. In the assessment proceedings before the Assistant Commissioner, Commercial Ta....
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....on under the Rules of 2000 has been declared to be ultra vires by a Division Bench of this Court in Northern Coalfields Ltd. v. State of M.P., WP No. 2309/2002 decided on 14-5-2007, thus, the assessment orders and the demand raised be quashed. He has also submitted that it is a cost of freight which is realized in the shape of transit fee. 7. Shri Deepak Awasthy, learned Govt. Advocate appearing for respondents has submitted that the transit fee forms part of the sale price. He has supported the orders and has submitted that decision rendered by this Court pertaining to vires of the notification in WP No. 2309/2002 has been stayed by the Apex Court and it cannot be said that notification issued is ultra vires. 8. In order to appreciate the rival submissions, it is necessary to consider the definition of "sale price" as defined in section 2(u) of the M.P. Commercial Tax Act. Section 2(u) read thus:- "2(u): "Sale Price" means the amount payable to a dealer as valuable consideration for the sale of any goods less any sum allowed as cash discount according to ordinary trade practice by inclusive of any sum charged for anything done by the dealer in respect of the goods at the time ....
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....neral Sales Tax Act, 1958. The decision rendered by this Court in M.P. No. 852/1975, decided on 4-4-1980 was affirmed. The Welfare Cess, stowing duty and rescue cess were recovered by the Central Coalfields Ltd. from its customers and when coal was dispatched by road, the Apex Court held that it forms part of sale price on goods and includible in the turnover for assessment of tax. In Ramesh Traders v. State of M.P., WP No. 3545 of 1994 decided on 9-9-1998, this Court has opined that the forest development cess forms part of sale price. 11. In George Oaks (Pvt.) Ltd. v. State of Madras, (1961) 12 STC 476 the Apex Court has held that the price paid by the purchaser was not a sum of money for the article plus tax but a composite sum and, therefore, the total amount charged was rightly treated as part of the turnover. The Apex Court has held in para 8 thus:- "8. In George Oakes (Private) Ltd. v. State of Madras, the Supreme Court quoted with approval the following observations of Goddard, L.J. in Love v. Norman Wright (Builders) Ltd. "Where an article is taxed whether by purchase tax, customs duty, or excise duty, the tax becomes part of the price which ordinarily the buyer will ha....
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.... ruling fully applies here. Duties of excise paid under the three Acts by the petitioner and collected by it from the purchasers must, on the same reasoning, be held to be forming part of the sale prices." In Sanghi Beverages Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Sales Tax, (1996) 102 STC 144, the question whether the excise duty recovered by an assessee from the purchaser formed part of the sale price on which sales tax was leviable was also answered in affirmative. In Mohd. Rafi v. State of M.P. (supra) decided on 23-4-2003, this Court has considered the definition of "sale price" in section 2(o) of M.P. General Sales Tax Act which is pari materia to definition in section 2(u) of the M.P. Commercial Tax Act. Relying on Central Coal Fields Ltd. v. Commissioner of Sales Tax (supra) and aforesaid other decisions, this Court came to the conclusion that forest development cess forms part of the sale price. 12. Shri H.S. Shrivastava, learned senior counsel has relied upon the decision of the Apex Court in Anand Swarup Mahesh Kumar v. The Commissioner of Sales Tax, (1980) 46 STC 477 (SC). The question arose whether market fee was payable under U.P. Krishi Utpadan Mandi Adhiniyam, 1964 collecte....
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.... articles purchased by the customer for the purpose of easy transport. When there was a separate bargain stating that the bending and cutting charges were to be paid separately, it was not possible to include such charges as part of the sale price and consequently in taxable turnover. The charges were not recovered by the assessee from each and every customer but only from those customers who want cutting and bending to be done in respect of articles purchased by them for the purpose of re-transport. The decision cannot be said to be of any application in the instant cases as regulatory measures are taken before hand the transit fee is deposited before delivery of goods along with the royalty. Thus, all the components form part of sale price. Another decision relied upon is Commissioner of Sales Tax v. Premier Automobiles Ltd., 1985 (59) STC 147 in which the High Court of Bombay held that the service pool charges collected by the assessee from its distributors were not a part of the consideration for the vehicle sold to the distributor at all. The charges were collected with a view to establish and maintain the service promotion pool and participate in the benefit provided thereund....