- (1.) These five sales tax revision petitions are directed against orders of the Rajasthan Tax Board dt.12/10/2009, 12/10/2012, 12/10/2012, 12/10/2012 and 12/10/2012 respectively relating to Assessment Year 1999-2000, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 respectively. Since the facts are identical in all the petitions, therefore, for the sake of convenience, the same are being decided by this common order.
(2.) Brief facts are that the petitioner is an Oil Company and is a Public Sector Undertaking of the Union of India. During the year under reference, the petitioner-assessee sold diesel to the Railways. The dispute revolves on a short point about the diesel being delivered by Road through containers by the petitioner-assessee to the Railways at the delivery point and whether the freight should be included as part of the sales turnover or not. While the mode of transport was either through Railways or by road but in so far as the mode through Railways is concerned, there is no dispute. The dispute noticed above and raised by the respondent-Revenue finds support and all the three authorities in unison have come to the conclusion that in so far as the freight by road is concerned, it forms part of the sales turnover for the purposes of levy of sales tax and freight is required to be included in the sales turnover and thus sales tax is required to be levied.
(3.) The Assessing Officer (for short, 'AO'), after analyzing the evidence on record and the agreements entered into by and between the petitioner-assessee and the Railways, came to the conclusion that freight, being part of the bill (invoice), is required to be added while levying sales tax. However, contention of the petitioner-assessee all throughout is that freight is entirely different and is separately reimbursable by the Railways and thus it cannot be added for the purposes of levy of sales tax.;