Judgement

HIDAYATULLAH, J. : This judgment will dispose of Civil Appeals Nos. 494 to 496 of 1962. The State of Andhra Pradesh which now stands substituted for the Provincial Government of Madras is the appellant. The respondent is one J. S. Basappa, a groundnut-oil merchant of Kurnool who was selling oil within the province and also exported it to extra-Provincial points. These three appeals concern sales-tax for the year 1944-45, 1945-46, and 1946-47. They arise out of three suits filed by Basappa against the Provincial Government of Madras now represented by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the details of which are given below.

2. For the year 1944-45, Basappa was assessed to sales tax amounting to Rs. 12,983-2-2 of which according to him, a sum of Rs. 1,594-1-5 only represented sales within the Province. He claimed that the remaining sales took place outside the Province of Madras. He submitted that property in the goods remained with him till the export of the goods to an extra-Provincial point and till payment of price after export. He claimed that these sales could not be included in his turnover under the Madras General Sales Tax. Act 1939 (Act No. IX of 1939) and sales-tax w