The main legal point established in the judgment is that the excise duty paid cannot be deducted from the turnover in determining the sales tax liability under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.

( 1 ) THESE are petitions under section 23 of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957, to be hereinafter referred to as "the Act". Both these petitions arise from the decision of the Mysore Sales Tax appellate Tribunal, Bangalore, in case No. S. T. A. 61/62-63. That case dealt with the assessment of the assessee under section 8 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, for the assessment year 1958-59. S. T. R. P. 19 of 1963 is filed by the State and S. T. R. P. 21 of 1963 is filed by the assessee.

( 2 ) WE shall first take up S. T. R. P. 19 of 1963. The controversy in this petition is as to whether the assessee is entitled to deduct from its turnover the excise duty paid by it on the papers sold by it during the assessment year. The Tribunal below has come to the conclusion that the assessee is entitled to deduct the excise duty paid by it from its turnover. The State is challenging the correctness of this conclusion.

( 3 ) LIABILITY to pay tax under the Central Sales Tax Act is imposed under section 6. Section 8 of that Act deals with the rates of tax on sales in the course of inter-State trade. Section 9 of that act provides for levy and collection of tax imposed under sections 6 and 8. Sub-section (1) of section 9 provides that the tax payable by any dealer under that Act shall be levied and collected in the appropriate State by the Government of India in the manner provided in sub-section (3 ). Sub-section (3) of that section lays down :

" (3) The authorities for the time being empowered to assess, collect and enforce payment of any tax under the general sales tax law of the appropriate State shall, on behalf of the Government of india and subject to any rules made under this Act, assess, collect and enforce payment of any tax, including any penalty, payable by a dealer under this Act in the same manner as the tax on the sale or purchase of goods under the general sales tax law of the State is assessed, paid and collected; and for this purpose they may exercise all or any of the powers they have under the general sales tax law of the State; and the provisions of such law, including provisions relating to returns, appeals, reviews, revisions, references, penalties and compounding of offences, shall apply accordingly. "

"turnover" is defined as follows in section 2 (j) : "'turnover' used in relation to any dealer liable to tax under this Act means the aggregate of the sale prices received and receivable by him in respect of sales of any goods in the course of inter-State trade or commerce made during any prescribed period and determined in the prescribed manner. " "sale price" is defined in section 2 (h) as follows :

"'sale price' means the amount payable to a dealer as consideration for the sale of any goods, less any sum allowed as cash discount according to the practice normally prevailing in the trade, but inclusive of any sum charged for anything done by the dealer in respect of the goods at the time of or before the delivery thereof other than the cost of freight or delivery or the cost of installation in cases where such cost is separately charged. "

( 4 ) FROM these provisions it is clear that in determining "turnover" the excise duty paid cannot be deducted. Rule 11 of the Rules framed under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, provides for the determination of the turnover. That rule reads :-

"11. (1) The period of turnover in relation to any dealer liable to pay tax under this Act shall be the same as the period in respect of which he is liable to submit returns under the general sales tax law of the appropriate State : Provided that in relation to a dealer who is not liable to submit returns under the general sales tax law of the appropriate State, the period of turnover shall be a quarter ending on the 30th June, 30th September, 31st December and 31st March, as the case may be in a financial year. (2) In determining the turnover of a dealer for the purposes of section 8, there shall be deducted the following amounts fro