The sale of the container, if any, would get merged in the sale of the content itself. Thus, it is always treated as a single transaction of sale of both the container and the content. In other words, the container whose identity pales into insignificance is identified with the content itself. The value of the container forms part of the consideration paid by the purchaser and it is one of the components of the sale price like the other components such as freight charges, excise duty, sales tax, etc.

A. LAKSHMANA RAO, J.

( 1 ) IN some of these writ petitions, the validity of section 6-C of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 (for short "the Act"), inserted by Act No. 11 of 1984 with effect from 8/07/1983, is questioned. In some of them, apart from the validity of section 6-C, the legality and propriety of inclusion of the excise duty on beer in the turnover of the dealer is questioned. In the rest of the cases, either the revised assessments made under section 20 of the Act levying sales tax on the value of the packing material at the rate applicable to the goods packed for the period prior to the insertion of section 6-C or the show cause notices issued by the concerned authority, proposing to revise the assessments made for the period anterior to the insertion of section 6-C are assailed.

( 2 ) THE petitioners are either the manufacturers of or dealers in either beer or cement. The beer is sold in bottles packed in cartons whereas cement is sold in gunnies. Section 5 of the Act which is the charging section provides that every dealer whose total turnover for an year is not less than Rs. 25,000 shall pay a tax for each year at the rate of five paise on every rupee of his turnover. Under sub-section (2) the tax is leviable in the case of goods mentioned in the First Schedule at the rates and only at the point of sale specified therein and in the case of the goods mentioned in the Sixth Schedule at the rates and at the points specified therein. Item 19 of the First Schedule relates to "containers other than gunnies and bottles" and these goods are subject to tax at the rate of five paise in the rupee at the point of first sale in the State. The goods "glass and glassware including" enumerated in item 123 of the First Schedule are subjected to levy of sales tax at the point of first sale in the State at the rate of nine paise in the rupee. rupee. Tax at the rate of ten paise in the rupee at the point of first sale in the State is leviable on cement under item 18 of the First Schedule. "gunnies" which were formerly enumerated under item 67 of the First Schedule are now included in item 157 of the First Schedule subjecting them to levy of tax at the single point of first sale in the State. So far as beer is concerned, it is exigible to sales tax, as per item 1 of the Sixth Schedule under the category of "country liquor" at the rate of ten paise in the rupee at every point of sale other than at the point of last sale and at the rate of five paise per rupee at the point of last sale in the State.

( 3 ) "turnover" is defined in clause (s) of section 2 and the relevant portion of the definition is as follows :"turnover means the total amount set out in the bill of sale (or if there is no bill of sale, the total amount charged) as the consideration for the sale or purchases of goods (whether such consideration be cash, deferred payment or any other thing of value) including any sums charged by the dealer for anything done in respect of goods sold at the time of or before the delivery of the goods and any other sums charged by the dealer, whatever be the description, name or object thereof. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "

( 4 ) SECTION 6-C dealing with the levy of tax on the packing material, which was inserted in the Act with effect from 8/07/1983, reads :"notwithstanding anything in sections 5 and 6-A, where goods packed in any materials are sold or purchased, the materials in which the goods are so packed shall be deemed to have been sold or purchased along with the goods and the tax shall be leviable on such sale or purchase of the materials at the rate of tax, if any, as applicable to the sale, or, as the case may be, purchase of goods themselves. "

( 5 ) NEITHER the term "consideration" nor the expression "sale price" is defined in the Act. Under rule 6 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Rules (for short "the Rules") the net turnover of a dealer assessable to tax is determined after deducting the amounts

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