1983 (2) TMI 271

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..... eli, and therefore, the sale by him is a second sale which is exempted under the provisions of the Act. The assessing authority, however, rejected the assessee's contention and brought the said turnover to assessment. The assessee filed an appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner but without success. The assessee thereafter took the matter to the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal. Before the Appellate Tribunal, the same contention was reiterated by the assessee. The Tribunal, after verification of the facts, found that the assessee had purchased the motor car from Krishna Mines, Tirunelveli, that, therefore, his sale during the year of assessment is a second sale, that the assessee cannot be held liable to pay the tax on the said turno .....

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..... of revision before us, another Bench of this Court in State of Tamil Nadu v. Chamundeswari Enterprises [1983] 52 STC 124, to which one of us was also a party, has reiterated the same principle as has been laid down in Govindan Co. v. State of Tamil Nadu [1975] 35 STC 50. Having regard to the two decisions referred to above, it is not for the assessee who is admittedly a second seller of the motor car to show that the first sale has in fact been taxed and the tax paid, and the onus on the subsequent seller is limited to establish that there was in fact an earlier sale in this State, and that his sale is only a second sale. Therefore, the decision of the Tribunal on this point has to be upheld. The learned Government Pleader, however, .....

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..... r cars. In a series of sales of motor cars in this State, the first sale either of a new car or of a second-hand car, is alone taxable. All the subsequent sales in the State are exempted. If item 3 is understood as relating only to new motor cars, the very purpose of bringing in item 3 in the First Schedule will be lost. When the statute does not use the words "new motor car", and uses the words "motor car", we must understand that expression as covering both the new motor cars and the old motor cars. When the language used in item 3 is express and specific, so as to apply to all motor cars, we do not see how the Court can alter the statutory language so as to sustain the difference between the new cars and the second-hand cars. We are, the .....

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