MEHTA, J. - The short question which has been referred by the Tribunal this reference is :

"Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the opponent-firm is entitled to claim exemption under sub-section (2) of section 6 of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, in respect of sales amounting to Rs. 9,100 effected by the said firm by transfer of documents of title during their movement from one State to another to the registered dealers of Saurashtra without production of declaration in Form C from their purchasers ?"

The short facts which have given rise to this reference are as under :

The opponent-firm is holding a registration certificate, It purchased timber in the course of inter-State trade or commerce and furnished to its vendor a declaration in Form C declaring that the goods purchased by it were covered by its certificate of registration and were of a class or classes specified in the certificate of registration as being intended for resale or for use by it in the manufacture or processing of goods for sale. The vendor of the opponent-firm had in its turn furnished certificate in Form E-I. These certificates were produced by the opponent-firm before the Sales Tax Officer during the assessment proceedings for the period from Kartik Sud 1, 2015, to 31st December, 1959. The opponent-firm subsequently sold the goods by transfer of documents of title to such goods during their movement from one State to another to the registered dealer in Saurashtra during the assessment period. When the opponent-firm claimed exemption in respect of those goods, the Sales Tax Officer rejected the claim for exemption for the sales amounting to Rs. 9,100 on the ground that the opponent-firm did not produce declarations in Form C from its purchasers. In appeal before the Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax, the opponent tried to produce declarations in respect of sales to the dealers but those certificates were not admitted. When the revision application was dismissed, the opponent firm approached the Tribunal The Tribunal held that for claiming exemption under section 6(2) of the Act, the only certificate which had to be produced was the certificate in Form E-I and as all the relevant conditions of section 6(2) were satisfied, the opponent-firm was entitled to claim exemption in respect of these disputed sales amounting to Re. 9,100 and accordingly the Tribunal allowed the revision application. The Tribunal has, thereafter, been asked to make a reference of the aforesaid question to this Court.

Section 6 provides for the inter-State sales tax. Clause (1) provides that subject to the other provisions in the Act, every dealer shall with effect from the notified date, viz., 1st July, 1957, be liable to tax under the Act on all sales effected by him in the course of inter-State trade or commerce during any year on and from that date. Clause (2) then provides as under :

"Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where a sale in the course of inter-State trade or commerce of goods of the description referred to in sub-section (3) of section 8 -

(a) has occasioned the movement of such goods from one State to another; or

(b) has been effected by a transfer of documents of title to such goods during their movement from one State to another;

any subsequent sale to a registered dealer during such movement effected by a transfer of documents of title to such goods shall not be subject to tax under this Act :

Provided that no Such subsequent sale shall be exempt from tax under this sub-section unless the dealer effecting the sale furnishes to the prescribed authority in the prescribed manner a certificate duly filled and signed by the registered dealer from whom the goods were purchased, containing the prescribed particulars."

Section 8 then deals with the rates of tax on sales in the course of inter-State trade or commerce. Section 8(1)(b) provides that every dealer who, in the course of inter-State trade or commerce - (b)