Sales tax collected by the assessee is not part of his turnover and therefore not taxable.

( 1 ) REDDY, J. (1) The assessee is a manufacturer of gunnies and twine. The assessment year is 1950 - 51. This revision case relates to the amount collected by the assessee by way of sales tax from the purchasers under R. 5, sub-r. (7) of the Turnover and Assessment Rules. In the year of assessment, the assessee submitted a statement of gross-turnover of Rs. 40,82,555-4-3 claiming a deduction in respect of some sums with which we are not concerned. The assessing authority added to the turnover, a sum of Rs. 58,699-3-9 representing the taxes collected by the respondent on the goods sold by him. An appeal was preferred by the assessee against the order including the sales tax collected by him in his turnover for the year. But this appeal was rejected. A further appeal to the Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal resulted in the exclusion of this sum from his turnover. It is this order of the Appellate Tribunal that is impugned by the State Government in this Revision case.

( 2 ) IT is urged in support of this case that the assessee is not entitled to deduct anything from the gross-turnover except those items that are specifically mentioned under R. 5 (1) (a) to (k) and that the sales tax collected by the assessee is not included in them. We do not think we can give effect to this contention. The mere fact that this is not one of the items mentioned in R. 5 (1) of the Turnover and Assessment Rules does nt enable the assessing authority to levy a tax on the amounts collected by the assessee from the purchasers by way of payable on sales. The purpose of R. 5 (1) is to determine the net turnover and in assessing it certain amount are deducted which are mentioned in cls. (a) to (k ).

( 3 ) THE non-mention of this particular head in R. 5 (1) will be significant if it could be treated as a part of the turnover. In our opinion, it cannot come within the ambit of the definition turnover Under S. 2 (1) of the Act turnover means the aggregate amount for which the goods are either bought by or sold by a dealer, whether for cash of for deferred payment or other valuable consideration, provided taht the proceeds of the sale by a person, of agricultural or horticulatural produce grown by himself or grown on any land in which he has an interest, whether as owner, usufructuary mortgagee, tenant of otherwise, shall be excluded from his turnover. It is thus seen that it is only the amount collected by way of the price of the goods sold that would come within the scope of this sub-section. The sales tax is not a part of the price or consideration paid by the purchaser. In fact the tax is determined only on the price paid by the purchaser for the articles purchased. The question of tax comes up only after the bargain is struck between the parties. As such, it cannot be a part of the purchase price. Therefore, tax on sale is outside the consideration paid by the consumer for the goods purchased by him.

( 4 ) THE seller is authorised to collect the tax under the statute and required to pay it over to the Government. Although the main body of the Act does not contain any provisions to enable the seller to pass on the tax to the consumer, sub-rule (7) of R. 5 of the Turnover and Assessment Rules confers such an authority on the seller. In our opinion he acts as an agent of the assessing authority in collecting the tax and he in under an obligation to make it over to the Government, and no part of this money belongs to him. Any default in this regard involves him in prosecution under S. 15 of the Act. Under S. 8-B (2) of the Act,"every person who has collected or collects any amount by way of tax under this Act, on or after the 1st day of April 1947, shall pay over to the State Government within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed all amounts so collected by him, if they are in excess of the tax, if any, paid by him for the period during which the collections were made, and in default of such payment, the amounts may be recovered as if they were ar

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