PADMANABHAN, J.

These tax revision cases arise under the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, hereinafter referred to as the C.S.T. Act, the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, hereinafter referred to as the T.N.G.S.T. Act, and the Tamil Nadu Additional Sales Tax Act, 1970, hereinafter referred to as the T.N.A.S.T. Act. The matter relates to cement, the sale price and distribution of which are subject to the Cement Control Order, 1967, and the regulations made thereunder. The questions that arise for determination can be briefly categorised as follows :

"(i) Whether the freight charges incurred by a dealer in the despatch of cement to the place of the customer could be deducted from the total turnover of the dealer under the C.S.T. Act, the T.N.G.S.T. Act and the T.N.A.S.T. Act ?

(ii) Whether the packing charges being the cost of the packing materials used by the dealer in packing cement for being delivered to his customers could be properly excluded from his total turnover for the assessment of sales tax ?

(iii) Whether the excise duty paid on packing materials used by a dealer for packing cement to be sold to his customers can be excluded in his total turnover ?" *

In T.C. Nos. 31 to 37, 206 to 210, 585, 586, 588 and 825 of 1979, the assessee is Ramco Cement Distribution Co. (P.) Ltd., Rajapalayam. While T.C. Nos. 206 to 210 of 1979, 586 and 825 of 1979 arise under the C.S.T. Act, the other cases arise under the T.N.G.S.T. Act and the T.N.A.S.T. Act. These cases cover the assessment years 1967-68 to 1975-76. In T.C. Nos. 581 to 584, 587, 589, 826 and 827 of 1979, the assessee is the Madras Cements Ltd., Rajapalayam. T.C. Nos. 581 and 583 of 1979 arise under the Central Sales Tax Act (C.S.T. Act), while the other cases arise under the T.N.G.S.T. Act and the T.N.A.S.T. Act. The assessment years covered by these cases are 1975-76 to 1977-78. In T.C. Nos. 470 to 474, 45 to 52 and 54 to 61 of 1979, the assessee is Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd., Dalmiapuram. While T.C. Nos. 470 to 474 of 1979 arise under the C.S.T. Act, T.C. Nos. 45 to 52 and 54 of 1979 arise under the T.N.G.S.T. Act and T.C. Nos. 56 to 61 arise under the T.N.A.S.T. Act. In this batch of cases, we are concerned only with the levy of sales tax on freight in respect of sales of cement under the Cement Control Order, 1967. In T.C. Nos. 450 to 452 of 1979, the assessee is M/s. India Cements Ltd., Madras, which arise under the C.S.T. Act, the assessment years being 1973-74 to 1975-76.We shall now take up for consideration T.C. Nos. 581 of 1979 which arises under the C.S.T. Act. The relevant assessment year is 1975-76. The assessees are M/s. Madras Cements Ltd., Rajapalayam. They sold cement to their various customers. The goods were despatched on "freight to pay" basis. They allowed deduction in their invoices to the extent of the actual freight payable up to the railway station of the customer's place. They, therefore, claimed deduction of such amounts from the total turnover liable to Central sales tax on the ground that they were not included in the price of cement sold and that the freight charges had been shown separately in the invoices. On this basis, for the assessment year 1975-76, the assessee claimed exemption towards freight charges to the extent of Rs. 9, 51, 419. The assessee also claimed exemption in respect of packing charges collected to the extent of Rs. 7, 61, 105.55 and a further exemption of additional excise duty collected on packing materials to the extent of Rs. 16, 119.15. The Joint Commercial Tax Officer, Rajapalayam, by his order dated 15th March, 1977, disallowed the exemption claimed by the assessee on account of freight charges, packing charges and additional excise duty under the C.S.T. Act, and determined the taxable turnover for 1975-76 at Rs. 61, 57, 697 and the tax payable at Rs. 70, 867. It may be observed that in this case the Joint Commercial Tax Officer found that the freight charges were included in the price of the goods thems