DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF COMMERCIAL TAXES MADRAS Vs. CALTEX INDIA LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN T. C. No. 151 of 1959, the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial taxes is the petitioner. The turnover is dispute relates to a sum of Rs. 53,874-4-0 relevant to the assessment year 1955-56. In T. C. No. 23 of 1960 also the Deputy commissioner is the petitioner and the disputed turnover is a sum of Rs. 1,04,296-7-0 relevant to the assessment year 1956-57. In both these cases, the assessee is Messrs. Caltex India Ltd. , and the turnovers represent sales of customs bonded stocks of bunker or fuel oil.

(2.) IN T. C. No. 160 of 1959, the State is the petitioner and the assessee is messrs. Burmah Shell. The assessment relates to the year 1952-53 and the turnover of Rs. 4,35,381 in dispute is in respect of furnace oil sold by the assessee to ocean-going vessels out of customs bonded stocks.

(3.) IT will be seen accordingly that in three cases the State is the petitioner, and the dispute relates to the assessability of transactions of sale of fuel oil sold to ocean-going vessels out of what is technically known as customs bonded stocks. In these cases, the Tribunal held that the goods had not crossed the customs frontier in the course of their import into the country, that they had not merged with the general mass of goods of the country and were consequently still in the stream of import. In this view, the Tribunal held that the sales were in the course of import and that the State was incompetent to assess such sales to tax.