Ashwani Kumar Mishra, J. - (1.) The question that arises for consideration in this revision is as to whether the amount paid by the dealer as Entry Tax for bringing the goods within the local area would form part of the turnover of assessee for the purposes of payment of VAT or not?
(2.) The assessee is engaged in the trading of paper. It is alleged that the assessee has a manufacturing unit at Chhatisgarh and for the assessment year 2008-09, it transferred stock to U.P., amounting to Rs.6,65,59,816/- and disclosed turnover of sales of paper at Rs.6,88,66,891.48/- and thereby admitted liability to pay tax under the U.P. VAT Act amounting to Rs.27,54,675/-. The assessee in respect of such stock also paid Entry Tax at the rate of 1% amounting to Rs.6,88,66,891.48/-. During the course of assessment proceedings, a question arose as to whether the amount of Entry Tax, noticed above, would constitute part of the 'sale price' and thereby included in turnover of sales for the purposes of payment of tax under the U.P. VAT Act. According to the revisionist, this amount of Entry Tax was apparently collected from the purchaser and was clearly reflected in the sale invoice and thus was not liable to be included, but this aspect has not been taken into consideration. The plea raised by the assessee in that regard has been rejected by the authorities under the U.P. VAT Act and also by the Tribunal, which has given rise to filing of present revision.
(3.) Learned counsel for the revisionist places reliance upon judgment of the Apex Court in M/s Anand Swarup Mahesh Kumar vs. Commissioner of Sales Tax, 1980 4 SCC 451, as well as a recent decision of the Apex Court in Asian Paints (India) Ltd. vs. State of Karnataka and others,2016 61 NTNDX 159. Learned counsel submits that since amount of Entry Tax has been passed on to the purchaser, as such, the amount is not liable to be included in the turnover of sales.;