THE HINDUSTAN CONSTRUCTION CO. LTD. Vs. THE ASSESSING AUTHORITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application for quashing the order of assessment passed by the Assessing Authority under the Jammu and Kashmir General Sales Tax Act, 1962 (hereinafter to be referred to as the Act) as upheld by the Sales Tax Commr. which is the final authority under the Act. The application arises in the following circumstances.

(2.) MR . Mehta appearing for the petitioners submitted two points before us. In the first place he argued that the State legislature was not competent to pass any law in order to levy tax on any indivisible contract which fell within the competence of the Parliament under Article 246 of the Constitution of India or at any rate which was beyond the ambit of the State List. Secondly it was contended that even if the State legislature had the power to levy tax on an indivisible contract of sale the provisions of the Act did not effectively express an intention to do so and therefore, the Assessing Authorities had no jurisdiction to levy tax on the petitioners.

(3.) THE second argument advanced by Mr. Mehta warrants a serious and careful consideration. Before, however dealing with this argument it may be necessary to refer to the scheme of the Act and to the intention of the legislature as expressed in the various sections of the Act. To begin within : AIR 1958 SC 560, Madras State v. G. Dunkerley & Co. their Lordships of the Supreme Court pointed out that the words 'sale of goods' appearing in Entry 48 were nomen juris and were to be used in the general sense in which a transaction of sale is legally understood.