B.C.CHAKRABARTI - (1.) THE applicants in all the three cases are the same. The points involved are identical. The cases, therefore, have been heard analogously and this judgment shall govern all of them.
(2.) RN -1 of 1989 is an original application filed before the Tribunal. The other two cases arise out of two writ applications under article 226 of the Constitution of India filed before the High Court which have since stood transferred under the provisions of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987. The case of the applicants in RN-1 of 1989 may be briefly stated thus : The applicant No. 1 is an existing company within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1956, having its registered office in Bombay. The company carries on business as manufacturer and seller of various consumer goods as also of industrial products. It has its factories all over India including three in West Bengal and branches in Calcutta, Delhi, Madras and Bombay. The company has appointed a number of clearing and forwarding agents in each State where goods are stored and then despatched to different destinations as per company's instructions. The godowns of the clearing and forwarding agents are duly recorded as places of storage in the registration certificate of the company. Even the goods manufactured in its other factories located outside the State of West Bengal or goods stored in the godowns of the various clearing and forwarding agents, have to be brought for distribution through the marketing network by way of branch transfers involving inter-State carriage of goods. The petitioner-company is a registered dealer under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 (hereinafter called "the BFST Act, 1941"), West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1954 (hereinafter called "the Act of 1954") as also under the Sales Tax Act, 1956 (hereinafter called "the CST Act" ).
(3.) THE company in the regular course of the business has to transfer goods from its factories or clearing and forwarding agents' godowns situated outside the State to the clearing and forwarding agents in or around Calcutta. Between 26th January, 1989, and 10th February, 1989, four consignments of detergent powder and cakes were being transferred from the applicant-company's factory at Chindwar, Madhya Pradesh to Calcutta. The said consignments were accompanied by respective consignment notes and other related documents which clearly indicated not only the quantity and value of the goods transported but also that the consignments were only the branch transfer, no sale being involved at all.;