A Letters Patent appeal from the said order was dismissed in limine.
Appeal by Special Leave from the Order dated 6 9 1975 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in L.P.A. No.
Hence this appeal.
Following a Division Bench decision of the Punjab Haryana High Court in Jagatjit Distilling and Allied Industries Ltd. v. The State 1 a learned single Judge of that Court allowed the writ application and quashed the assessment order.
As a whole seller it supplied Indian made foreign liquor to permit holders on the permits issued by the respective Excise and Taxation Officers, the companypetent authorities under the Punjab Excise Act and the Rules framed thereunder.
Sales tax under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 was imposed in respect of the sales aforesaid by an order of assessment dated the 30th November, 1972.
The respondent companypany holds L 1 licence which is meant for whole sale dealers.
N. Sinha, P. P. Singh and E. C. Agarwala for the Respondent.
The State companytested the application and in its companynter asserted that the excise trade like many other trades, or even more, had to be regulated and companytrolled by various Rules and Regulations and in spite of all the restrictions placed thereby an area was still left where the whole seller and the retail purchaser had to arrive at an agreement by their volition.
46,396.22 paise from the petitioner.
The respondent, thereupon filed a Writ Petition in the High Court for the quashing of the said order and to restrain the appellants from recovering the amount of Rs.
It maintains wholesale depots at various places in the State of Punjab, the main depot being at Ludhiana.
Hardev Singh and R. S. Sodhi for the Appellants.
The prices were fixed by the companypetent authorities and the respondent had to charge the fixed price from its retailers holding L 2, L 4, L 5 and L 10 licences.
The main ground of attack on the imposition of sales tax was that the alleged sales were number sales in the eye of law as the respondent had numbervolition in the distribution of liquor which was received from the manufacturing companycern at Jammu.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by UNTWALIA J. The respondent company in this appeal by special leave has a Distillery and Brewery at Jammu.
516/73.
