P.C.JAIN,J. - (1.) THIS judgment and order of ours would dispose of Civil Writs Nos. 4065 and 4066 of 1973 and Civil Writ No. 5660 of 1974 as common question of law arises in all these petitions. In order to appreciate the contentions raised before us certain salient features from Civil Writ No. 4066 of 1973 may be noticed.
(2.) THE Food Corporation of India and its Senior Regional Manager, Punjab, Chandigarh, have filed this petition under articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India for the issuance of an appropriate writ, order or direction quashing the assessment orders (copy annexure F) and the demand notices and for a declaration that no sales tax is imposable on any of the transactions right from the stage of procurement of rice from the millers and the licensed dealers by the State Government or its officers up to the stage of delivery of the said procured rice to the depots of the corporation outside the State of Punjab. A further prayer has been made in the nature of the issuance of a writ of mandamus commanding the respondents not to recover any sales tax either under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, or the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, in pursuance of the assessment orders (annexure F) and demand notices issued thereunder. The Food Corporation of India (hereinafter referred to as the corporation) was established under the Food Corporations Act, 1964 (Act No. 37 of 1964) (hereinafter referred to as the Act ). On 27th October, 1958, the Governor of the then State of Punjab with the prior concurrence of the Central Government issued an order known as the Punjab Rice Procurement Levy Order, 1958 (hereinafter referred to as the Levy Order ).
(3.) IT is stated in the petition that necessary funds for making the purchases under the Levy Order were made available by the corporation to the Director of Food and Supplies, State of Punjab, to the extent such funds were required for acquisition of rice to be delivered to the Central Pool, under the supervision and control of the corporation. The District Food and Supplies Controllers of the State of Punjab used to send to the Director of Food and Supplies, respondent No. 2 herein, daily accounts of purchase of rice made from the licensed dealers and licensed millers and the Director of Food and Supplies, respondent No. 2, in turn, transferred to the corporation the rice procured for and on behalf of the corporation along with the sale bills issued by the licensed millers and licensed dealers in his favour. No separate bill was sent either by respondent No. 1 or respondent No. 2 to the corporation in respect of the stocks of rice delivered or transferred to the corporation. The State Government through the agency of its Director of Food and Supplies, respondent No. 2, used to make the necessary adjustments against the funds made available to it by the corporation for the amount spent by them as price of the rice procured for and on behalf of the corporation and also for the establishment and other incidental expenses incurred for the said procurement. Besides, the procurement of rice under the provisions of the Levy Order, the corporation used to purchase rice directly from the State of Punjab and in all such cases, regular sale bills used to be made by the Director of Food and Supplies, respondent No. 2. The acceptance bill also used to be issued by the officers of the State of Punjab after rice was procured from the growers and the millers. In this manner the corporation purchased rice through the agency of the State Government, that is, respondent No. 2. After the rice was thus procured by the corporation through the agency of respondent No. 2, necessary adjustments towards the payment of price out of the advances made by the corporation used to be made and the unspent balance at the close of the procurement season used to be refunded to the corporation. Thus the rice was procured directly by the corporation through the agency of the State Government. The State Government and its officers acted as agents for the corporation for the purpose of procuring and despatching rice from the State of Punjab. For the service rendered the State Government was reimbursed for the establishment and other charges incurred by it for procurement of rice. The corporation had to use the agency of the State Government because it was the State Government alone that could procure rice under the Levy Order. The procurement of rice made by the corporation through the agency of the Punjab State was not a taxable event. It was not a sale of rice by the millers or the dealers to the State Government or to the corporation and no sales tax was payable on the transaction of procurement of rice from the millers and the dealers by the Punjab State by its officers and the corporation. The despatch of rice, which belonged to the corporation from the State of Punjab to depots outside the State of Punjab, was also not a taxable event because in effect the corporation transported its own goods from the State of Punjab to places outside the State of Punjab. A mere transfer of goods by the owner from one place to another does not amount to sale.;