9911796707
TMI Blog1983 (10) TMI 229X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... x under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act. The assessee, M/s. Madras Marine Co., Visakhapatnam, is a dealer in bonded stores and ship chandlers. They import liquor from outside India and supply them to foreign vessels. The business is transacted in the following manner. The goods imported are kept in a bonded warehouse under the supervision of customs authorities. No customs duty is paid. On receipt of orders from the ship's Master, bills are prepared and goods are released. The Customs Officer accompanies the goods, keeps them in a locker of the ship under the customs seal with an understanding that the seals would be opened and goods made available for consumption only after the vessel travels beyond the territorial waters of Ind ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be two places. One from which the goods are sent and the other in which they are received. This point is no longer open to debate in view of the authoritative decision of the Supreme Court in Burmah Shell Co. Ltd. v. Commercial Tax Officer [1960] 11 STC 764 (SC). The relevant observation are as follows: "While all exports involve a taking out of the country, all goods taken out of the country cannot be said to be exported. The test is that the goods must have a foreign destination where they can be said to be imported. It matters not that there is no valuable consideration from the receiver at the destination end. If the goods are exported and there is sale or purchase in the course of that export and the sale or purchase occasions the exp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Explanation to clause (1) was omitted by the Amendment Act of 1956 and clause 2 was introduced which is as follows: "(2) Parliament may by law formulate principles for determining when a sale or purchase of goods takes place in any of the ways mentioned in clause (1)." We are not concerned with other clauses of article 286. Sub-clauses (a) and (b) of article 286 direct that no tax be levied by any State on a sale or purchase outside the State and no tax be imposed on a sale or purchase made in the course of export or import. Clause (2) of article 286 authorises Parliament, to lay down the principles under which a sale or purchase can be said to take place, by law. In pursuance of this clause, section 5 of the Central Sales Tax Act enact ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... see no force in this submission. The concept of a floating island is only a metaphor and the same cannot be mistaken for a manifestation. We are not concerned with foreign ships on the high seas but merchant ships of other nations within the territorial waters of this country. The concept of a floating island cannot be invoked for avoiding taxation under any domestic enactment. In Cunard Steamship Co. v. Mellon 262 US 100 it is said: "A merchant ship of one country, voluntarily entering the territorial limits of another, subjects herself to the jurisdiction of the latter. The jurisdiction attaches in virtue of her presence, just as with other objects within those limits. During her stay she is entitled to the protection of the laws of that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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