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TMI Blog1992 (9) TMI 325X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was correct in drawing adverse inference against the petitioner? (3) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was justified in holding the petitioner liable to pay tax in Bihar on the concerned transactions holding them to be inter-State sales after spelling out a case of deemed contract between the parties on the basis of adverse inference drawn by it against the petitioner? 2.. All the five references in hand relate to the same assessee giving rise to the above common questions of law under identical facts for the periods 1966-67, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70 and 1970-71. 3.. The relevant facts as found by the Tribunal may be set out in short. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5.. Before the Tribunal it was, inter alia, urged on behalf of the assessee that since there is no material on record to prove that there was any covenant in the contracts for supply of explosives from the factory at Gomia to the site of the customers, therefore, the transaction cannot be deemed to be that of inter-State sale. To repudiate this part of the submission, the Tribunal by placing reliance on various circumstances appearing in the case, held that from the conduct of the parties an implied contract can be inferred to the above effect. The Tribunal has recorded in its revisional order that though, as noticed by the assessing authorities, copies of the agreement and other relevant papers including the instructions issued by the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ds from one State to another has occasioned because of an obligation cast on the seller to that extent in the contract for sale entered into between the parties. According to him since there is no material on record from which any such obligation can be inferred either express or implied, therefore, the Tribunal has gone wrong in rejecting the claim of the petitioner. In support of his submission, he has placed reliance on a Full Bench decision of this Court in the case of Shankerjee Raut Gopalji Raut v. State of Bihar, reported in [1968] 22 STC 241. According to him though this case related to exports but the underlying principles and the ratio of the case will also apply to inter-State sales in view of the Supreme Court judgments in the c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... teel and Press Works Ltd. [1985] 60 STC 301 (SC) the assessee-company had its factory at Hyderabad and branches at Bombay, Calcutta and Chembur. The branches, inter alia, used to receive orders for supply of goods conforming to the definite specifications and drawings (referred to as "non-standard goods". On receiving advice from the branches, the factory at Hyderabad used to manufacture the goods as per the specifications and despatch the same to the branches. Subsequently the branches used to deliver the goods to the customers and receive the prices. These sales effected by the branches were assessed as inter-State sales by the Commercial Taxes Officer, Hyderabad, on the ground that the movement of goods from Hyderabad to the stations out ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... yer or is an incident of the contract. If it is so, as it appears no doubt to us, its movement from the very beginning from Hyderabad all the way until delivery is received by the buyer is an inter-State movement. In English Electric Co. of India Ltd. v. Deputy Commercial Tax Officer [1976] 38 STC 475 (SC); [1977] 1 SCR 631, this Court held that when the movement of the goods from one State to another is an incident of the contract it is a sale in the course of inter-State sale, and it does not matter which is the State in which property in the goods passes. What is decisive is whether the sale is one which occasions the movement of goods from one State to another." (emphasis* supplied). 10.. In the present case it is not in dispute that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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