- (1.) HEARD learned Counsel for the petitioner and learned Government Counsel.
(2.) THE petitioner has prayed for quashing the impugned FIR copy of which is Annexure 12 to the writ petition which relates to crime No. 234 of 2002 at police station Kotwali City, Mirzapur. The facts are that the Indian Railway has appointed city booking agents in cities for the purpose of sale of railway tickets as well as booking/delivery of goods booked through the railways. The petitioner is one of such agents who was appointed in Mirzapur. In the impugned FIR broadly the allegation is that the petitioner is running a racket by which a huge amount of Sales Tax has been evaded. In fact such rackets are being run all over the State and several writ petitions have come up before us regarding such city booking agents who are indulging in such malpractice of evasion of huge amount of tax and are hand in glove with the other businessmen and officials.
(3.) THE methodology adopted in such cases has apparently been followed in this case also. A perusal of the FIR shows that the allegation against the petitioner is that the petitioner noted the false names and address of the persons who booked their goods at the petitioner's booking agency. This was apparently done to show that these goods are being sent out of the State of U. P. and hence it is shown as an inter state or export sale and not an intra state sale. In this way trade tax is evaded. Under the Constitutional scheme, the State legislature can impose sales tax only on intra state sales but not on inter state sales or export sales. Hence, the attempt was to show intrastate sales of huge amounts as inter state or export sales, so that the State legislature cannot levy sales tax (now known as trade tax ).;